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AUSIT National Conference (annual)
General Information
Past Conferences
The annual Jill Blewett Memorial Lecture

For Members of the Public, Professionals and Organisations working with Interpreters and/or Translators
General Guidelines and Recommendations
FAQs
Risks of Not Working with Qualified Practitioners
Guidelines for Legal Settings
Guidelines for Health Care Settings
Guidelines for Community Translations
Guidelines for Cultural Institutions using Translations
The AUSIT Code of Ethics
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For Students, Educators & Researchers
Thinking of Studying Translation and/or Interpreting?
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For Practitioners
The Benefits of being a Member of AUSIT
Join AUSIT: Application Form
AUSIT Engage (community engagement hub)
Guidelines for Practitioners
The AUSIT Code of Ethics
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In Touch Magazine
Blogs (including past President’s Newsletters)
Videos & Podcasts
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The Sydney Declaration (AUSIT National Conference Statement 2023) 
Interpreter Feedback Form and Reports: experiences in courts and tribunals

Risks of Not Using Qualified Interpreters
and Translators

Danger Ahead! There are inherent risks in not using qualified practitioners for interpreting and translation work. The below reports, mainly from the mainstream media, illustrate some of the ways in which things can go wrong.

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Pilbara man wins appeal against assault conviction after Karratha magistrate denied him interpreter (8 Sep 2023)
Pilbara man wins appeal against conviction after magistrate denied him... more
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Can patients use family members as non-professional interpreters in consultations? (11 Feb 2020)
The British Medical Journal asks whether patients can use family members as non-professional interpreters... more
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Traps for bilingual solicitors: Working with culturally and linguistically diverse clients (23 Apr 2019)
Jen McMillan, writing in the  Law Society Journal, explains the dangers for bilingual lawyers when they seek to act as interpreters and/or translators... more
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Translators were ‘not qualified’ for police interview work (14 Jan 2019)
Unqualified police interpreters have cost the public thousands of pounds by causing court delays and in one instance the collapse of a case, the BBC has... more
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Gene Gibson freed as conviction for Broome manslaughter of Josh Warneke quashed (12 Apr 2017)
An Aboriginal man with cognitive impairment has walked free from jail after almost five years behind bars, with WA’s highest court overturning his... more
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Critical case analysis of adverse events associated with failure to use interpreters for non-English speaking patients (22 Nov 2016)
ANU: Critical case analysis of adverse events associated with failure to use interpreters for non-English speaking... more
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Improving Patient Outcomes for our Non-English Speaking Community and the Hearing Impaired – When Do You Need to Use an Interpreter in Providing Health Services? (28 Sep 2016)
The requirement for clinicians to adequately communicate with their patients is well established for a number of reasons,... more
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State v. Cazarez-Hernandez (17 Aug 2016)
In the case of State v. Casarez-Hernandez, 280 Or App 312 (2016) (De Muniz, S.J.), the court concludes that the state failed to meet its burden... more
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Chinese tourist mistaken for asylum seeker in Germany after losing wallet (9 Aug 2016)
Lost in translation: Chinese tourist mistaken for asylum seeker in Germany (ABC... more
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Calls for family violence interpreters to receive training (28 Nov 2015)
Migrant advocates are calling for specialised training of interpreters for family violence victims as cases emerge of those who fail to... more
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Report on Operation Aviemore: Major Crime Squad Investigation into the Unlawful Killing of Mr Joshua Warneke (5 Nov 2015)
Western Australian police officers have often failed to comply with the Criminal Investigation Act 2006 (CI Act) and their own Police... more
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WA Chief Justice Wayne Martin fears language barriers putting innocent people behind bars (27 Sep 2015)
Woman calling for inquest into son’s death fears man who confessed to murder without interpreter present is... more
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POLICE v PITHANG [2015] SASC 88 (16 Jun 2015)
In the case of Police v Pithang SASC 88 (11 June 2015) an accused man walked free after police prosecutors failed to find an... more
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Five police officers stood aside over conduct while investigating death of Broome man Joshua Warneke (30 May 2015)
The suspect was denied basic legal rights such as the use of an interpreter, and thus his admissions to police were not... more
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Failure to use an interpreter (April 2010)
Sara Bird’s case study in the Australian Family Physician Vol. 39, no. 4, April 2010 outlines the potential legal... more
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We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past and present.

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Submission form

for court interpreters to report incidents or issues that occur in court interpreting assignments.

Purpose and function of this information submission form.

This form enables you to report issues or problems that you encounter in the course of court interpreting assignments. These issues and problems will be collected by AUSIT to report to the JCCD (the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity) to monitor the implementation of the Recommended National Standards. The reporting of these issues and problems enables AUSIT to work with the JCCD to suggest steps to address these issues and to avoid the repetition of these problems in the future.

  • Details of interpreter and court interpreting assignment

    (These details will be retained by AUSIT only. These details will not be passed on to JCDI):

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY

  • Your interpreting assignment experience

    (These details may be shared with JCDI. If you do not wish for a specific piece of information to be made available to the JCDI, please make this clear.)

  • Give details of what you wish to report on in chronological order below (NOTE: you can access the Recommended National Standards here)

  • Thank you for taking the time to report your experience. It will assist us in advocating for interpreters to be treated as the skilled and experienced professionals that we are. Your feedback is welcome.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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