Community Justice Centres: providing free and confidential services across NSW to help prevent, manage and resolve disputes.
That’s the first thing you will read when you access the website of the NSW Community Justice Centres (CJC), which are located in all major centres, including Campbelltown and Liverpool.
Campbelltown has the highest referral rate to CJC in the Sydney metropolitan region, so it’s no surprise it has launched a robust campaign against the State Government decision to close down CJCs by June 30 this year.
Campbelltown Council says many of the referrals to the local CJC relate to neighbourhood disputes over fences, boundary issues, noise, overgrown land, roaming cats, dogs, trees and other similar issues, and is concerned what will happen to these after June 30.
Council also points out that with the population growth in the Macarthur region, increasing density, and proximity of dwellings to each other, disputes between neighbours are increasing, particularly with disputes in smaller lots relating to air conditioning noise, water tanks, and animals.
Alas, at this stage it looks like Campbelltown Council is not going to get its way, because in response the Minns Government claims there are now many other mediation services available for resolving such disputes.
“People in NSW have many avenues to access mediation services that help them resolve their disputes quickly and informally where possible and appropriate,’’ the government has told Campbelltown Council.
“As these have become more widely available the demand for CJCs has fallen significantly.
“The government will continue to connect people with alternate services and resources that can help them resolve matters outside of the court system, through services such as LawAccess which provides comprehensive information about legal rights and advice about how best to deal with disputes.
“While the services provided by CJCs will no longer be available from 30 June 2025, the Department of Communities and Justice will establish a new in-house service to deal with disputes currently required under legislation to be referred to CJCs for mediation (primarily being those under the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007).
“This service will be operational by 1 July 2025,’’ the government said in the letter to council.
Campbelltown Mayor Darcy Lound, who met with local MP Greg Warren to seek his support, wrote to the state government calling for a change of mind over the proposed closure of CJC.
“We are extremely disappointed to learn of the Government’s decision to close CJCs on 30 June 2025,’’ he said.
“Campbelltown CJC has an office and registry in Railway Street, co-located with Campbelltown Court (pictured at right).
“Our compliance officers refer community members to the CJC on a daily basis. The CJC provides free and effective mediation.
“Our community experiences significant levels of socio-economic disadvantage and will struggle to support private engagement of dispute resolution services following the closure.
“Particularly in Western Sydney, our court system is burdened by lengthy delays. This closure would result in more impost on the court system, with more unrepresented parties that have not been able to access out of court dispute resolution,’’ Mayor Lound wrote.
“In 2022-23 almost 80 percent of neighbourhood disputes taken to mediation, resulted in agreement and resolution by parties.
“The closure of the CJC will mean that these disputes will remain unresolved and will inevitably escalate.
“We implore the Government to reconsider this decision and support the ongoing service of the Community Justice Centre.’’
