The Court aims to provide access to justice for people who are unable to effectively communicate in English.
The Court will arrange for interpreters in criminal hearings. The Court can also assist by booking interpreters for civil proceedings but the party will usually need to pay the cost. In both cases, requests for an interpreter should be made to the Associate of the Judge managing your case not less than 14 days before the date of the hearing.
The Court does not provide translators for criminal or civil matters. It is up to you to arrange and pay for any documents which may need to be translated for a hearing or for your case.
For detailed information on the Court’s processes for interpreters and translators please refer to the Consolidated Practice Directions (item 9.13 Interpreting and Language Services Guidelines).
The Australian Government's interpreting service can supply telephone or on site interpreting. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and is accessible from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call.
The telephone number is: 131 450.
You may also like to refer to the Translating and Interpreting Service.
The following web sites translate free of charge short sentences of your choice and whole web pages into certain languages:
http://www.freetranslation.com
http://www.google.com/language_tools
The following web sites provide information on interpreter service for Aboriginal languages:
Last updated: 1-Mar-2019
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