Some of you will be aware of the recent decision made by the NSW government to defund and close all NSW Community
Justice Centres (CJC) at the end of the current financial year.
The CJC has provided mediation and conflict management service for the people of NSW for 40+ years. It employs about 20 staff and over 60 nationally accredited mediators throughout NSW, takes over 8000 enquiries every year and conducts on average 750 mediation sessions annually.
The CJC mandate is to provide a free, accessible, timely and confidential service across NSW to assist people to prevent, manage and resolve disputes.
With an agreement rate of over 80% for non-court referred matters, and with nearly 90% of users of the service satisfied that the assistance CJC provided helped in resolving their dispute, the loss of the service will be significant to the NSW community.
There has also been no public consultation about the closure with Councils, communities or other relevant stakeholders.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
The AMDRAS Board has been very concerned to hear the news of the closure of the CJC and as such has written a letter of support to the Director of the CJC, and the corresponding government department, to reiterate the importance and value of this service.
To date, the decision to defund this service remains unchanged and the NSW Government intends to repeal the Community Justice Centres Act 1983 and close all Community Justice Centres in NSW by 1 July 2025.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
There is an online petition against the NSW government’s plan to defund and close the NSW CJC.
The AMDRAS Board is sharing the link (below) to encourage our community to show support and express their views.
Please take a brief moment to sign and share with your networks this so that the mediation community and users of mediation in NSW are aware and express their views.
Link: ACCESS THE NSW PETITION NOW to support this vital community service.