There are over two million people living in the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) region. The people and businesses of GWS deserve much better court services based at Parramatta from both Federal and State Governments to significantly improve their access to the justice system.

Why should GWS locals be forced to travel long distances into the clogged Sydney CBD to get justice? This region needs fully functioning Courts at the Federal Court, Family Court, NSW Supreme Court and District Court levels. Parramatta has a well-established Justice Precinct with plenty of court facilities that are significantly under-utilised, disadvantaging the residents of this region.

To achieve this, Governments at both levels need to appoint more Judges to the Parramatta jurisdiction and to establish a permanent presence for the NSW Supreme Court and the Federal Court to hear the full range of cases every week.

Greater Western Sydney (GWS) region is one of the fastest growing regions of the country. This region has a total population of 2.005 million people and is growing at 1.5 per cent a year. With a population of that size, the region is a comparable jurisdiction to the City of Brisbane, and is larger in population that the State Capitals of Perth, Hobart and Adelaide.

With the number of people and companies in and around this region the case is made. The time is right to give us “Access to Justice” we deserve.
We aim to promote the Greater Western Sydney region, with Parramatta as the natural base, for improved and increased legal and judicial services to service the 2 million+ population of this region. In particular, we highlight the need for:

• Greater use of the existing 13 Federal Courts facilities in the Garfield Barwick Building in George Street, Parramatta through the engagement of additional Family Court Judges to this Court;
• The appointment of additional Federal Circuit Court Judges to the Parramatta Federal Courts;
• The inclusion of Parramatta permanently in the circuit for Federal Court Judges hearing the full range of Federal matters in this region;
• The establishment of a permanent NSW Supreme Court in Parramatta and the appointment of up to 6 Supreme Court Judges to be based at Parramatta.

Riad Tayeh of de Vries Tayeh is part of the working committee of the Access to Justice for Western Sydney notion. At the recent successful launch of the concept Riad Tayeh was a guest speaker voicing the reasoning of why de Vries Tayeh is throwing its support behind this cause. de Vries Tayeh are advocates of the Access To Justice in Western Sydney are contributing to the cause to get Judges and Magistrates to Parramatta, the real heart of Sydney to ensure the people of Western Sydney get their “Access to Justice”