ACT Intermediary Program
Intermediaries help witnesses to communicate their best evidence.
Intermediaries are officers of the court who have undertaken rigorous training in order to become accredited. Intermediaries effectively facilitate communication between:
- witnesses and police; and
- witnesses, lawyers and others at court during the criminal trial process.
Intermediaries are often drawn from allied health professions including Speech Pathology, Social Work, Psychology and Occupational Therapy. Intermediaries are experienced facilitating communication of witnesses with:
- language delays
- mental health issues
- learning disabilities
- cognitive issues
- autism
- ADHD
- trauma
- age related
and other types of communication difficulties.
Intermediaries can assist people of all ages. Intermediaries have assisted the very young (under four years of age) to communicate their evidence, as well as the very elderly (over 90 years of age).
The role of the intermediary is to carefully assess the communication needs of the witness and inform police and the court of the best ways to communicate, so the witness can provide their best evidence.
The intermediary does this by conducting a Communication Assessment of the witness’ communication needs at two separate stages of the process:
- immediately prior to the witnesses’ interview with police (a quite short assessment is conducted); and
- prior to the witnesses’ attendance at court (a more comprehensive assessment is conducted).
After undertaking the Communication Assessment and advising the police and court about communication with the witness, the intermediary may remain involved. The intermediary may be present during the police interview and may also be present at the court hearing, so the intermediary can immediately assist there is a breakdown in communication.
It is important to note that the witness intermediary is not a support person. (Other people are able to provide support to witnesses – see Victim Support)
The intermediary is an impartial participant in the process who is focused on helping the effective communication of evidence.
As impartial officers of the court subject to laws governing their conduct, intermediaries are prohibited from discussing the content of the evidence. Intermediaries do not discuss the merits of a witness’ case and intermediaries are not informed of case outcomes, as this information is not relevant to their role.
Intermediary Procedural Guidance Manual
To ensure role transparency and clarity, intermediaries adhere to a Procedural Guidance Manual. The Procedural Guidance Manual (PDF 2MB) has been developed in conjunction with ACT criminal justice stakeholders and incorporates important intermediary procedure, some of which is informed by established intermediary practices in other Australian jurisdictions.
The manual is an ‘easy reference guide’ for ACT intermediaries regarding key aspects of their role, including professional conduct they must adhere to and processes they must follow.
The manual is updated regularly to ensure currency and reflect practice changes. Feedback regarding manual content is continuously sought from criminal justice stakeholders engaged with the Intermediary Program.
Fact sheets
Information for Families (PDF 6MB)
Procedural Guidance Manual (PDF 2MB)
More information
ACT Legislation
The Advocate’s Gateway
How do I contact the team for more information?
The ACT Intermediary Program Team can be contacted as follows:
Phone: 02 6205 2222
Text: 0434 855 030
Email: intermediaryprogram@act.gov.au
Mail: GPO Box 158 Canberra ACT 2601
Background to the ACT Intermediary Program
In 2018, the ACT Government responded to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. One of the commission’s findings was that vulnerable witnesses, such as children in sexual abuse cases, face extraordinarily significant communication barriers when giving evidence. The commission recommended that states and territories establish intermediary schemes to assist vulnerable witnesses to communicate their evidence.
The ACT Government passed legislation and allocated funding in its 2019-20 budget to establish the Intermediary Program. In January 2020, the program began actively providing intermediaries to assist police and courts’ engagement with vulnerable witnesses in criminal matters.
How to become an ACT Panel Intermediary
We work with skilled professionals as part of Panel of intermediaries.
The ACT Intermediary Program, which commenced on 31 January 2020, is based in the Victim of Crime Commissioner’s team within the ACT Human Rights Commission. Intermediaries are accredited professionals and independent officers of the court.
They provide specialised advice at police investigative interviews, to lawyers and at court to facilitate the giving of evidence by vulnerable witnesses. Currently, the Program mainly receives requests for intermediaries for matters involving child complainants in sexual assault and child witnesses in homicide matters, however, there has also been demand for the Program with matters involving adults with disabilities and other communication difficulties.
The Program model draws on the expertise of a small number of ‘in-house’ intermediaries and a larger ACT Intermediary Panel.
We generally run a recruitment round for Panel Intermediaries – with the most recent round closing on October 2022. Prior to being selected as a Panel Intermediary, applicants need to complete a week-long training and accreditation.
For more information on the role please read the Frequently Asked Questions document or email: intermediaryprogram@act.gov.au