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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-05-13 Daily Xml
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Eldridge, Ms P.

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:37): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General tell the council about the retirement of Judge Penny Eldridge from the role of judge of the Youth Court?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this area. It is an honour to be able to update the council on significant movements in the Youth Court and also the remarkable career of Judge Penny Eldridge, judge of the Youth Court. After being appointed a judge of the District Court in March 2016, Judge Eldridge then sat as the judge of the Youth Court and has remained there since, being in the position for almost 10 years.

In that time as judge of the Youth Court, Judge Eldridge has played a central and critical role in the lives of some of South Australia's most vulnerable young people and in her retirement is leaving a lasting legacy of her notable work. Judge Eldridge is well-known and rightly highly respected for her focus on mediation and having a hands-on approach in working with parents during proceedings, particularly in the Reunification Court.

Under Judge Eldridge's leadership, the Youth Court implemented the recommendations from the 2020 Reunification Court evaluation in 2021, which as a result now sees the court with a specific Aboriginal Reunification Court list that was further expanded in 2022. Judge Eldridge's regular utilisation of the Youth Aboriginal Community Court Adelaide (YACCA) was also to her great credit. Prior to her career as a judge of the Youth Court, Judge Eldridge was appointed as a magistrate in August 2003 and sat in the Civil Division at the Adelaide Magistrates Court for more than six years. Before these appointments, Judge Eldridge practised as a solicitor for 27 years, mainly in the areas of commercial litigation, defamation, estate litigation and education law.

As members may be aware, the Youth Court is a court of criminal and civil jurisdiction with powers conferred under a range of acts in South Australia. In addition to the jurisdictions conferred by legislation, the Youth Court may place the restriction or restraining orders under the Criminal Procedure Act or the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act. These significant powers and functions vested in the court have the ability to shape the course of young people's lives and are potentially very emotional and complex for children and their parents to navigate, so the particular focus of Judge Eldridge's practice on clearly explaining the law and its implications with children and their parents is critical.

I would like to wish Judge Eldridge the very best in the next chapter of her life and thank her and pay tribute to her career that has impacted on the lives of so many. I am pleased to share that District Court Judge Michelle Sutcliffe has been designated the new judge of the Youth Court. Judge Sutcliffe has previously managed the Magistrates Court's specialist domestic violence list and is extremely well-placed to take over the leadership of this important jurisdiction and continue the court's work with young people in South Australia.

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