Page 37 - Keeping the Peace

Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria 31
Some JPs were worried that this move signalled even more restrictions on their role. A talk by Mr Alan Blair to JPs in Diamond Valley entitled ‘Winds of change for the JP’, warned of ‘a restlessness and dissatisfaction with the old order of things’. He felt that the registration of JPs was ‘obviously a prelude to coming changes in the near future’.61 He articulated a sense that the growing scrutiny by government may not be in the best interests of JPs. He went on, however, to identify that training could only help JPs perform their role to meet modern standards: ‘As justices we are surely demanded, of conscience, to analyse the situation as to whether our system of HJs has a rightful place in modern society, and whether or not we are fitting ourselves to properly carry out our duties in these times. Accepting the fact that criticism has arisen, it would seem that a person’s ordinary knowledge, integrity and honesty of purpose are not, in the present day, sufficient to satisfy public demand. Let us accept the fact that we need some basic instruction in our duties as a prelude to experience’.
The Royal Victorian Association of HJs (RVAHJ), as the HJs Association was now known, had a membership at this time that included nearly three-quarters of Victoria’s JPs. The RVAHJ took the lead in developing structured courses for Victoria’s 5,000 JPs on a number of topics. Its council established a specialised training course for Honorary Magistrates to commence in 1968. The Attorney-General, the Honorable George Reid accepted the RVAHJ’s invitation to attend and officially declare the course open on 2 April 1968.62 In 1970, the RVAHJ, in conjunction with the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Monash, adapted the 12 week course so that members from country areas could also attend.
While these new courses were an attempt to raise the reputation of the role of the JP across the state, there was also a concerted move in government to increase the number of stipendiary magistrates and remove the need for JPs to sit on the bench.
Debates in parliament also concerned the availability of JPs as the system of registration for JPs introduced in the mid-1960s was found wanting. As the system required names to be renewed every three years, it was difficult to keep it up to date. For example, JPs died, moved address or changed circumstances which meant they were no longer available to the public. The Attorney-General, the Honorable Mr Wilcox, confessed in parliament that it might
not be up to date as that there were inadequate resources to administer the register in the Law Department.63
61 62 63
‘The Justice of the Peace’, 1 June 1966, p. 71. ‘The Justice of the Peace’, 1 December 1967. Victorian Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 1 October 1975, Government Printer, p. 7037