President’s Newsletter May 2025

As AUSIT members should be aware, much of the work that position holders in AUSIT do is behind the scenes. This is especially the case for advocacy work.

I recommend all colleagues read about the excellent work Patricia de Avila and other members of the Advocacy Committee are doing in the latest edition of In Touch magazine.

I have also been representing practitioners in our continued dialogue with various courts and tribunals – here’s some of the progress I’ve made:

Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, Queensland Courts

I have relayed feedback from AUSIT members to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) and Queensland Courts regarding booking and support issues that compromise their duties as court officers. Some examples include:

Inadequate booking information: LEP (limited English proficiency) party names and proceeding types are sometimes not provided, preventing conflict-of-interest checks and proper preparation. This has led to one interpreter discovering family relationships upon arrival at court, and another being exposed to vicarious trauma in a domestic violence case without prior warning.

Limited equipment access: Interpreters are usually not made aware of how to access essential equipment like hearing loops and simultaneous interpreting systems, which increases their fatigue during lengthy hearings. Requests are sometimes denied due to misunderstandings about interpreter roles.

Restricted document access: Interpreters cannot easily obtain materials like charge sheets and witness lists in advance, causing trial delays when judges must adjourn to allow document review, or compromises to accuracy of interpreting.

Insufficient registry training: Court officials often lack understanding of interpreters’ essential role in ensuring access to justice, sometimes dismissing requests with ‘just translate what they say in court.’

Courts in both jurisdictions have received this feedback positively and have committed to making changes to their policies and procedures where possible.

In a recent multi-day criminal trial I completed at the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane, I communicated my needs directly to the court. Eventually, I was booked by His Honour to attend the pre-trial review, whereby all of the following requests that I made were fulfilled:

• Interpreter’s room outside the courtroom
• Interpreter’s table and chair in the courtroom
• Copy of the indictment sheet
• Copy of the charges and particular of the charges
• Copy of the trial plan, including the witness list
• Provision of a hearing loop
• Provision of simultaneous interpreting equipment
• Provision of a wireless internet connection

This is a good example of how our working conditions as interpreters can be improved by making requests politely but assertively with the relevant jurisdiction. AUSIT will also continue to advocate for practitioners wherever possible. 

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory

AUSIT has been in talks with the Supreme Court NT to explore ways to raise the profile of the interpreting profession in the region.

Darwin Supreme Court will host a significant conference on Language and the Law, 22–24 August 2025.

This conference, developed in close cooperation with both the Aboriginal Interpreter Service and the Interpreting and Translating Service NT, represents an important opportunity for our profession to engage with critical issues at the intersection of language access and legal practice.

Given the significance of this event for advancing our field, I strongly encourage colleagues to submit expressions of interest here to present at the conference.

Tasmanian Civil & Administrative Tribunal 

I am pleased to announce an upcoming professional development event in Hobart on 20 June, generously hosted by the Tasmanian Civil & Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT).

This two-session event has been designed to serve both sides of our professional community: the first session will target legal professionals, while the second will be tailored specifically to interpreters.

This event represents an excellent opportunity to strengthen the connections between legal practitioners and interpreters in Tasmania.

I look forward to meeting with Tasmanian colleagues at this event, as well as at additional Hobart-based activities that we will announce soon.

You can register for the event with TASCAT here.

Interpreter Feedback Form

AUSIT’s working relationship with courts and tribunals across various jurisdictions is greatly improved by feedback submitted by practitioners.

I remind those of you who work in courts and tribunals to submit your experiences – both good and bad – via the AUSIT website here.

All feedback is collected anonymously and reflected back to the judiciary so further improvements can be made.

The fourth report by AUSIT’s Interpreters’ Feedback on RNS Implementation Committee, compiled from the forms submitted over the last 14 months, was published this week. You can read it here.