Motions: Justices of the Peace

Wednesday September 05, 2018

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (12:54): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises the valuable volunteer service that over 7,000 justices of the peace in the state of South Australia provide;

(b) calls on the Attorney-General to formally recognise those justices of the peace who have undertaken the role for 15 years by the presentation of an award; and

(c) calls on the Attorney-General to formally recognise those justices of the peace who have undertaken the role for 25 years by the presentation of an award.

A justice of the peace fulfils a very important job within the community, and there are many JPs who go about their duties with little fanfare or reward. A JP is a person who has been appointed by the Attorney-General to act as an independent and objective witness to documents. There are over 7,000 JPs in South Australia. In the electorate of Mount Gambier, we are fortunate enough to have 150 JPs who assist members of the public, witnessing signatures or certifying documents on their behalf. Many members of parliament have a JP service in their office, providing a valuable service to our constituents. My office regularly has over 200 people a month attend, seeking the services of two staff members in my office who have chosen to become JPs.

While it may seem that a JP simply witnesses a person's signature, there is a bit more responsibility to the role than that. It is also the responsibility of a JP to ensure, to the best of their ability, that they believe that the document the person is signing is in the correct format and also that the person understands what they are signing and that no undue pressure has been put on a person to sign a document. As well as witnessing signatures, a JP certifies documents, undertakes identification checks and, at times, is required to be an independent witness at a police interview or when drugs are destroyed.

JPs can also elect to be a member of the Royal Association of Justices of South Australia, and approximately 40 per cent of South Australian JPs are association members. They do this in order to pursue specialised training, which is offered by the association, and also demonstrate a commitment to professional competency.

Due to the fact that time is very short, I will put the rest of my speech on my website. I do want to mention Jimmy Galpin, who is over the age of 80, an active JP and a fantastic community member. Thank you, Jimmy. I also want to talk about retired Mount Gambier justice of the peace Garry Von Stanke, whose initiation of this award is why we are here today. With that, I commend the motion to the house.