Preview: Solution Focused Justice Symposium Opening Panel

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What is solution focused justice? What is a solution focused court? What is the Bugmy Bar Book and what is its use to judges and solicitors? How are therapeutic and restorative approaches to justice operating in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Papua New Guinea and beyond. The Solution Focused Justice Symposium was held in Sydney on 20-21 February 2026 for invited speakers and interested parties from around the world. The opening panel of the Symposium, chaired by the Honourable Justice Dina Yehia (Supreme Court of New South Wales), with speakers the Honourable Justice Sir Joe Williams (Ngati Pūkenga, Waitaha and Tapuika) (Supreme Court of New Zealand), the Honourable Justice Kofi N. Barnes (Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada), her Honour Magistrate Pauline Spencer (Magistrates Court of Victoria) and Anthony McAvoy SC (Wirdi) (Barrister, New South Wales Bar Association).

Discussion Includes:

  • Opening remarks
  • History of the Bugmy Bar Book
  • Launch of partnership with National Legal Aid
  • Six purposes of Symposium
  • What solution-focused courts are
  • What solution-focused courts are not
  • Key messages on community involvement to achieve change
  • The Canadian experience
  • Situation in New South Wales
  • Closing remarks

Presenter Profiles

The Hon. Justice Dina YehiaThe Honourable Justice Sir Joe Williams (Ngati Pūkenga, Waitaha and Tapuika)The Honourable Justice Kofi N. BarnesHer Honour Magistrate Pauline SpencerAnthony McAvoy SC (Wirdi)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Publications

  • Australian Institute of Criminology, Deaths in Custody in Australia
  • Australian Law Reform Commission, Pathways to Justice – Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ALRC Report 133)
  • Edwige, V., and Gray, P., Significance of Culture to Wellbeing, Healing and Rehabilitation (2021, Bugmy Bar Book) https://www.publicdefenders.nsw.gov.au/Documents/significance-of-culture-2021.pdf
  • House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Doing Time – Time for Doing: Indigenous Youth in the Criminal Justice System, 2011 http://www.aph.gov.au/atsia
  • Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, National reports [Vol 1-5], and regional reports (1991, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service)
  • Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Aboriginal Children in the Northern Territory Final Report, 2017
  • Shields, R., and Ellis, A., Impacts of Institutionalisation (2024, Bugmy Bar Book)