*****IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR ALL HONORARY JUSTICES FROM RVAHJ******
Revised RVAHJ Office Service – During Phase Out Stage 3 Restrictions
The Stage 3 Phase Out for greater Melbourne area as well as additional relaxations for regional Victoria due to the Coronavirus has been released by the Government on the 10th June 21, as well as an email communication from HJSS, the RVAHJ update on the range of changes to the way we operate is as follows as advice to members:
Elwood Office
The Association Office in Elwood will reopen for normal operating hours and business as follows:
- Restart of providing witnessing and certification services from Elwood
- Phone calls are no longer diverted to the answering machine except for normal business
- Email to [email protected] is still recommended as the best way to communicate with the office
- Association operations for members are still functional and are operating as “business as usual”
- If you still have any urgent issues or concerns, members should call the President on 0418 885 122, Secretary on 0458 222 673 or reach out to any of the other Board Members
The implemented comprehensive Covid 19 Safe Plan for the Elwood Office will continue to be used as restrictions ease for the Elwood office and the Vic Gov QR code is now in use.
Honorary Justices – Stage 3 Phase Out
DSS’s reopening’s will be dependent on the host organisation guidelines during this period. It is expected that some will continue to be closed until Melbourne is fully out of Stage 3 restrictions. We have also seen a number of locations in the greater Melbourne area such as police stations, community based and commercial (shopping) locations allowing the DSS to reopen. DSS located in regional areas have been reopening over the last week with the restrictions being relaxed and is expected to continue to do so further with the latest announcement, if in doubt please check with the person in charge to get approval to reopen. Could all DSS coordinators please send a email through when back up and running to Elwood.
For those locations that are able to reopen and provide services to the public, it required to do so following the Health Departments guidelines of social distancing, wearing of masks at all times and also ensuring the clients logging in to the Vic Gov QR system.
It is most likely that the DSS host venue will have already implemented the QR Code system for your location. Please ensure that you are familiar with the requirements, and it will be a requirement that you ask and confirm with the client that they have checked in. The easiest way of doing this is to ask to see the ’green’ tick on their mobile phone to confirm registration on the system.
As per our last eNews, for those locations that do not have the Vic Gov QR code it will be necessary to create one for your location. The RVAHJ has already registered with the Vic Gov QR system and please contact [email protected] if you need one organised for your location. Please have the following info available, i.e. venue address, contact person name, contact number and email address; who will be the first point of communication with contact tracers if the need arises.
It is still good practice that if you do need to leave your house to travel to and from a police station (for Bail Justices) or to meet a member of the public to provide Justice of the Peace services, that you carry your Bail Justice or Justice of the Peace ID card with you at all times.
Remote (Online) Witnessing
The RVAHJ remote witnessing service has continued to be fully booked over the last week with a lot of requests coming through on the website contact us page. Please refer the public to this service as needed via the following link: https://www.rvahj.org.au/remote-witnessing/ we will continue to review additional times and days based on demand.
Note that Certified True Copies, Medical Treatment Decision Makers and Advanced Care Directives cannot be remotely witnessed.
Official Announcements
The Vic Gov Announcements in relations to the phase out of Stage 3 lockdown from the:
- STATEMENT FROM THE ACTING PREMIER
- 7 DAY CIRCUIT BREAKER RESTRICTIONS PHASE OUT
can be found at: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/statement-acting-premier-3
Once again thank you to all JPs and BJs for your incredible commitment to the local community during this difficult time. Please keep up the great work – those who are unable to witness and those who can. But above all things, stay safe and look after yourself and your family.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Mracek JP FRVAHJ
President, RVAHJ