Nick Papas, now a criminal barrister, said the courts had been "crashed" and the growing workload was the number one problem in magistrates' courts across the state.

"The reality is that the court here has been crashed," he told 3AW radio on Thursday.

"Every time there's a societal problem, let's pass a new law, let's make something illegal."

The comments came after retiring magistrate Charlie Rosencwajg slammed the justice system to News Corp, stating Victorians were being let down by the legal system.

Mr Rosencwajg said magistrates' courts were under-resourced, had increasing workloads and a lack of experienced lawyers and magistrates.

Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen hit back on Thursday morning, saying he had "complete confidence in the quality and competence of the magistrates and the process by which they are appointed".

"The views expressed by magistrate Rozencwajg are not shared by me nor, I believe, the vast majority of my judicial colleagues," he said in a statement.

The Standard has recently reported on the Warrnambool Magistrates Court's growing caseload making it difficult for magistrates to deliver justice under time pressures.

The backlog of cases has also left defendants waiting in custody for months before their matter is heard before a court.

On Monday, a man was remanded in custody until the next available date, which was two-and-a-half months away.

The week before there were three people whose bail applications or pleas were adjourned off in a matter of minutes to another date due to time constraints.

On Thursday, visiting magistrate Michael Coghlan said in Warrnambool court there had been an "explosion" of cases following the significant changes to the Victorian Bail Act in the wake of recent terrorist offences.

"We've got a lot of people coming to court, probably getting advice from lawyers, probably good advice, saying you'll have some difficulty (getting bail) because of the change in bail laws," he said.

"They say 'oh well you can make your own application for bail' and yes you can but there has to be something going for you otherwise they will be refused and quite frankly they come as a waste of time".

Mr Coghlan's comments came after a 30-minute bail application was refused. The defendant was one of three people who appeared before the court without legal representation in one hour.

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