Tuesday, 27 August 2024

Adjournment

Manningham justices of the peace

Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (19:00): (791) My adjournment matter tonight is to the Attorney-General, and it concerns the number of justices of the peace in the municipality of Manningham. At the moment there are 122 JPs in Manningham, and a recent survey found that only 11 of them were active. This presents a major problem for the 11 JPs who are active, because of course they locate themselves in the local police station and they are working long shifts.

Anthony Carbines interjected.

Matthew GUY: No, I can advise the minister that JP is not one of the names after this one. It will not be anything, so do not worry. I point out that the youngest JP in Manningham is aged 70. Numerous attempts by JPs to approach the Department of Justice and Community Safety to request another round of JP appointments have led to the response that the department will do surveys to see who is still active. They are not seeking to add new JPs to this number – they should, but they are not. What we get is a revolving door: that is, the same people stay, most are not doing anything and the same 11 or thereabouts are doing all the work.

There are a number of people who have applications in with the government and want to help. They want to be JPs, they want to get on the list and they are looking to participate and help out because they know that the problem is real. If another 10 were hired, or even two – I know the JPs I met recently would be happy with two. But if another 10 were added, this would allow two shifts per day, morning and afternoon, to be rostered at Doncaster police station, and that would allow the signing of documents to happen on a regular basis. I might add this cuts down a significant amount of time for police. The Minister for Police at the table should know this: the more JPs on the roster and the more work they are doing, it is taking away work that VicPol officers would have to do if those JPs were not there. So it makes sense to have a number on the books who are more active than what there is.

So my request to the Attorney-General and the department of justice tonight is very simple, and that is to add another 10 justices of the peace to the municipality of Manningham to give the hardworking JPs in the municipality of Manningham a break and to help relieve the stress that is being placed on the Doncaster police.