Court Support Officer

Are you passionate about Indigenous justice? Do you want to play a key role in assisting the Courts help Indigenous clients turn their lives around? Are you a team player and love client service?

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If you said **yes** to all three, we have a unique opportunity for you in our Circle Sentencing Courts team as the **Court Support Officer**.

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**Galambany** and **Warrumbul Courts** are specialised courts within the ACT Magistrate’s and Children’s Courts that focus on alternative sentencing methods for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adult defendants and young people respectively. It is a type of restorative practice that aims to provide culturally relevant and effective sentencing options for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by incorporating Elders and cultural aspects into the Court sentencing process.

**The Role**:
In this dynamic role, you will assist to administer Circle Sentencing Courts proceedings and coordinate activities by managing referrals, assessments, conferences, check-ins and sentencing sessions. Also, you will deal with clients, their families and legal representatives to provide client service and cultural support, as well as liaise with various stakeholders and support services to meet clients’ needs.

Together with the Circle Sentencing Coordinator, you will work across the organisation, the ACT Government and the community to develop and implement initiatives aimed at preventing or reducing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples contact with the justice system.

You will provide advice to ensure the policy and procedures which govern Circle Sentencing are culturally safe, gender and trauma informed, and evidence led. And you will also form relationships with other teams across the justice and community service-related agencies to learn from each other and to help address barriers impacting access to justice.

You will work as part of the broader team, which is the face of the Courts Registry and deals with a wide variety of clients, enquiries, transactions and documents. You will never be bored in your job as no two days are the same. This is a great opportunity for anyone who’s interested in a career in court administration. As we say, start here and go anywhere

**About You**:
The ACT Courts and Tribunal is seeking a capable, resourceful, passionate and client service-focused individual to take up a very rewarding, interesting and important function.

This role is perfect for a self-starter who has excellent customer service, prioritisation and time-management skills. You will work under a broad direction of your manager and will be responsible for achieving outcomes across key areas of administration, coordination and client service.

You will bring your Indigenous expertise to the role and will use your experience and understanding of trauma informed practices and restorative justice principles to inform the Courts practices and procedures.

You will work with your colleagues to educate them about Indigenous justice issues, to build understanding about how best to provide culturally-appropriate service, as well as to link with other parts of the service - e.g., Indigenous Liaison Officers - to produce good results for clients.

It is a busy role so you must thrive in meeting deadlines while achieving high levels of quality and accuracy. Your digital skills will be polished, especially in MS Office, and so will be your ability and aptitude to quickly learn our IT systems.

If all this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you

The ACT Public Service supports workforce diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace. As part of this commitment, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, culturally diverse people and those who identify as LGBTIQ are encouraged to apply.

**Eligibility/Requirements**

This is a designated position in accordance with _s42, Discrimination Act 1991_ and is only open to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage is considered essential and therefore a Confirmation of Aboriginality may be requested.

A Merit Pool will be established from this selection process and will be used to fill vacancies over the 12 months.

**How to Apply**:
Please use the link in this ad to submit, in a PDF format, the following:

- Your **up-to-date curriculum vitae** (max three pages),
- ** Details of your two referees** (one of which must be your current supervisor/manager), and
- A **pitch** (maximum 900 words) which outlines:

- Your understanding of circle sentencing and how the restorative principles fit into this type of justice process - maximum max 300 words; and
- Why you are interested in this role, what you would bring to it, and how you and your experiences to date demonstrate the skills, knowledge and capabilities required for the role (as outlined in the Position Description under ‘_What You Require_’ heading) - maximum 60