Jane Hinton, a member of The Intermediary Cooperative, recently returned from Australia where she spent time with intermediaries and other senior officials from that country.
Jane’s time Down Under included a packed week of meetings and other activities at the invitation of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Intermediary Program.
A highlight of the week was being asked to present at the ACT Intermediary conference, held in Canberra.
More than 30 people attended the event including senior lawyers, police officers and Margie Rowe, the ACT Human Rights Commission’s Acting Victims of Crime Commissioner, who was the keynote speaker at the one-day conference.
Jane’s attendance marked the latest interaction between TIC and the Intermediary Program in ACT and elsewhere in Australia. Members including Jane have provided ongoing advice and support to the program which has only been in existence since 2019.
Jane was asked to speak about the role of intermediaries outside of the court room and the ways in which they can provide added value and support, for example through attendance at conferences with barristers and solicitors.
The work of intermediaries in Australia has so far been predominantly focussed on supporting victims and witnesses, but the intention is to also expand the support available to defendants in criminal courts and those involved in Family Court hearings.
In addition to the Intermediary Program conference, Jane also spent time with the ACT’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Team, the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre and a local police station. She also sat in on a ground rules hearing at the Supreme Court in Canberra.
Jane said: “It was great to spend time with intermediaries and others involved in the justice system in the ACT. Every meeting I attended I was asked to talk about TIC and our experiences working as intermediaries in the UK. We are held in really high regard.
“Several of our members have supported the country in establishing its intermediary program and this was the latest example of this. We have invited them to attend our own annual conference in Liverpool in June this year.
“There was also particular interest from intermediaries in New South Wales in our own cooperative model and how we have successfully brought together a group of over 50 like-minded intermediaries, and I know that one intermediary that I met is looking at whether something similar could work for her and other intermediaries in Australia.”
Jane added: “It is clear from my time in the ACT that there is a real desire to continue growing the work of intermediaries. A good example of this was at the ground rules hearing I attended where the ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum was extremely positive about the role of intermediaries. Having this kind of support will be invaluable as they continue to move the work of intermediaries forward.”
- Jane Hinton is a Registered Intermediary and an HMCTS Appointed Intermediary in Family Courts and working with defendants. Prior to this, she worked for over 30 years as a teacher of pupils with a wide variety of additional needs in specialist and inclusive settings, including 20 years in leadership roles.