Complaints against a person granted permission to use title

Complaints against a person granted permission to use title

74. The Act allows the Secretary to grant a, person who has ceased to hold office as a Justice of the Peace or a Bail Justice, permission to use the title JP (Retired) or BJ (Retired), as the case may be.¹⁴
75. Complaints against a person granted permission to use the retired title are limited to complaints that fall within the definition of a complaint in paragraph 14.c) of this Guideline.
76. Permission to use the title may be revoked by the Attorney-GeneraI¹⁵ only when an investigator appointed by the Secretary has found that facts exist which could constitute grounds for revoking the permission.

Process Steps

77. The department will acknowledge receipt of the complaint and seek permission to release details of the complaint, or provide a copy, to the retired Honorary Justice.
78. The department will advise the retired Honorary Justice of the complaint and request the retired Honorary Justice to respond within 14 days.
79. At the conclusion of the 14 days afforded to the retired Honorary Justice to lodge a response, the complaint will be referred to the investigator for investigation, consideration and findings as he/she see fit.¹⁶
80. The department will provide the investigator with any previous complaints and other relevant material relating to the retired Honorary Justice.
81. The investigator must make contact with the complainant and the retired Honorary Justice and may make contact with witnesses during the course of their deliberations.
82. The Investigator must afford the Honorary Justice 21 days to respond to the complaint in writing, orally or both.¹⁷
83. Possible outcomes of the complaint may be:
    1. The investigator makes a finding that facts exist which could constitute ground for revoking the permission to use the title in which case the Attorney-General may revoke the permission to use the title.
    2. The investigator makes a finding that facts do not exist which could constitute grounds for revoking permission to use the title.
84. The department will advise the person granted permission to use the title and the complainant of the outcome. The advice to the complainant may be general in nature.

 

Footnotes

[14] See Section 40(3) of the Honorary Justices Act 2014.

[15] See Section 42(2) of the Honorary Justices Act 2014.

[16] See Section 31(1) of the Honorary Justices Act 2014.

[17] See Section 32(2) (b) of the Honorary Justices Act 2014.