Interpreters

There is a large pool of accredited interpreters in Australia for the most common European or Asian languages, but there are not even courses available for many Aboriginal languages. 

To be effective, an interpreter needs to understand a language, its associated culture and shades of meaning, as well as being alert to the possibility of an individual misunderstanding. An interpreter must not only understand legal concepts and be familiar with court procedures, he/she must also understand medical and other matters which might be raised in court.

Because some indigenous languages might only be the first language of 30 or 40 people, it would be great to have members of that language group as interpreters, not just for the benefit to the community but also to preserve the language. In a court room, however, that person cannot be someone who stands in a taboo relationship to the people involved in the case, though the probability they are also involved in what happened or have a conflict of interest is also rather high.