Blue Mountains News

CJCs are operated by the State Government and provide free and confidential services across NSW to help people prevent, manage and resolve disputes.

CJC employees have been advised that the centres will cease operations as of 30 June 2025, and Mayor Mark Greenhill moved a Mayoral Matter of Urgency at the 26 November Council meeting to write to the NSW Attorney General seeking confirmation that CJCs will continue to provide services to people across the state.

“Council’s development monitoring team refer people directly to CJCs at least 200 times every year,” Cr Greenhill said.

“With a success rate of more than 80 per cent, CJCs play an important part in keeping costs down for residents, keeping disputes out of the court system, and ensuring Councils can direct their resources to where they are most needed.

“Councils like ours simply don’t have the resources to manage neighbourhood disputes, least of all because they need to maintain ongoing relationships with all residents.

“Councils also just don’t have the resources to absorb this service.

“When the CJC was established in the early 1980s, it was heralded in the Legislative Assembly Hansard as ‘the most promising step taken this century to provide a system for the settlement of a class of dispute which the adversary processes of our courts have never been able to resolve satisfactorily’.

“The fallout from losing this service will significant both for local residents, local courts, and Council.”

According to NSW Government information, CJCs have been successful in achieving resolution across a range of matters:

• Non-court referred matters: 81 per cent resolved
• Court referred matters: 68 per cent resolved
• Neighbourhood disputes: 79 per cent resolved
• Family disputes: 63 per cent resolved
• Landlord/tenant disputes: 83 per cent resolved
• Workplace disputes: 62 per cent resolved
• Organisations, clubs, associations: 75 per cent resolved
• Other business/commercial disputes: 69 per cent resolved

A copy of Council’s correspondence to the NSW Attorney General will be sent to Local Government Miniter Ron Hoenig and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle.