Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker expressed dissatisfaction with accredited interpreters not being available on multiple occasions in court for non-English speaking defendants.

"The Magistrates Court process is frequently frustrated by the unavailability of either appropriately trained interpreters or interpreters not being available in person," she told The Canberra Times.

"The courts are exploring whether better processes could be achieved to provide what is an essential service for court users."

On one recent occasion, Ms Walker said in court she was "uncomfortable" revoking a man's bail after he allegedly breached his conditions, because there was no available Tongan interpreter for the man.

READ MORE:

Ms Walker is not alone in her concerns, with other magistrates also expressing issues with the availability of accredited professionals to translate court proceedings for people who do not speak English as a first language.

Magistrate James Stewart said it was "entirely unsatisfactory and unfair to the defendant" when the court could not get a Nepalese interpreter for a man during his first appearance.

As a result, the charges were not formally read out to him and he was unaware of the alleged offending.

On multiple instances, cases have had to be stood down from being heard, to later in the day or on another day, due to the unavailability of an interpreter, wasting valuable court time.

The principal registrar and chief executive officer of the ACT courts, Amanda Nuttall said "the pool of available interpreters for some languages may be relatively small in the ACT".

She explained other methods are used when an interpreter can not attend in-person, often having out-of-state interpreters appear via audio-visual link.

"The ACT Courts and Tribunal (ACTCT) will make use of video conferencing to engage an interpreter interstate or, where appropriate, defer the date of a conference or hearing to when an interpreter was available," Ms Nuttall said.

She also said the ACT interpreter protocol outlines other solutions, including using an interpreter in a person's second language, if the primary language interpreter is not available.

The office of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, which is responsible for arranging accredited interpreters in Magistrates and Supreme Court matters, did not wish to comment on the matter.

National Accreditation Authority of Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), which certifies interpreters to be used in courts, said there were only 39 certified interpreters in the ACT, working at the highest levels of generalist interpreting.

There are also 63 certified provisional interpreters who have completed their entry-level generalist interpreting test.

The ACT has an additional 11 people working as recognised practising interpreters for languages not tested by NAATI.

The total number of credentials held by interpreters in Australia is 7688 (noting some may hold more than one).

In NSW, there are 2414 current interpreter credentials, including two certified specialist legal interpreters. In Victoria, there are 2778 current interpreter credentials.

Lee Yacoumis, strategic engagement manager at NAATI, said: "We haven't had any reports specifically about the lack of available interpreters in the ACT, but understand it can often be challenging to find interpreters across the wide range of languages spoken in Australia."

"Using video remote and telephone interpreting can help but comes with limitations of course," she said.

"NAATI offers certification testing in response to community demand and has found that one of the biggest barriers to entry into the profession is the availability of accessible training options."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.