New South Wales Consolidated Acts

COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTRES ACT 1983 - SECT 20A

20A Provision of mandatory mediation services

(1) This section applies to a dispute that has been referred to Community Justice Centres for mediation by an order of a court or tribunal under a provision of another Act or of a statutory rule and without the consent of all of the parties to the dispute.

(2) The Director may accept, or decline to accept, a dispute to which this section applies for mediation under this Act.

(3) If the Director accepts a dispute to which this section applies for mediation:

(a) the Director may assign the mediator or mediators who are to conduct the mediation sessions in relation to the dispute, and

(b) a mediator assigned by the Director to conduct the mediation sessions in relation to the dispute is taken to be the mediator appointed by the court or tribunal that made the order referring the dispute for mediation or the mediator specified in the order, as the case may be.

(4) Unless otherwise provided by the regulations:

(a) the provisions of this Act (except sections 23 (1) and (3), 27, 28 and 29) apply to the mediation under this Act of a dispute to which this section applies and to the mediators conducting the mediation sessions in relation to the dispute, and

(b) the provisions of the Act or statutory rule under which an order was made referring such a dispute for mediation under this Act, and the terms of the order:

(i) apply to the mediation of the dispute under this Act and to the mediators conducting the mediation sessions in relation to the dispute in the same way as they apply to mediation under the Act or statutory rule under which the referring order was made and mediators conducting mediation under that Act or statutory rule, and

(ii) so apply except to the extent to which they are inconsistent with subsection (3) or the other provisions of this Act applied by paragraph (a).

(5) If the Director accepts a dispute to which this section applies for mediation under this Act, the Director is to provide a written report on the outcome of the mediation or attempted mediation to the court or tribunal that referred the matter for mediation.

(6) If the Director declines to accept a dispute to which this section applies for mediation under this Act, the Director is to give the court or tribunal that referred the matter for mediation notice in writing of the Director’s decision and the reason for the decision.