VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • SPRING 2019
MEMBER PROFILE We would like to introduce you to one of our newer QJA family members, Samia Boukerchi. Samia has been a JP for a little more than a year now and has being actively volunteering in the Western Suburbs of Brisbane for six months now. The roles and responsibilities of being a JP are fairly new to Samia and she describes herself as a “puppy” JP. Born in France and originally a French citizen, Samia’s parents migrated to France from Kabylia (a province of Algeria) after the Independence war in 1962. Armed with a Masters` Degree in Food Science and Food Technology, Samia has been travelling for the past 20 years. She has worked in various industries, including the food business industry, mainly in South East Asia and Europe, as well as the hospitality and entertainment industry where she performed in burlesque shows around Europe, USA and Canada. A career change again led her into the fitness industry and she claims ‘fitness freak’ status as she has been doing this for the last 15 years. She has run competitions around Europe, University soccer and some promotional triathlons in the past. Needless to say Samia has been exposed to so many different people from different origins and different states of mind. But at last, seven years ago, she landed in this beautiful and unique island continent and has never thought of leaving. This would become her ‘little island of paradise.’ Samia is passionate about health, fitness, and wellbeing and says she is very oriented towards outdoors activities such as swimming, fishing, spear fishing, camping, kayaking etc., and embraces the philosophy “Building a sane mind in a sane body in a sane environment is primordial in our transited life on Earth.” Samia takes up the story: “When I arrived in Australia and fell in love with this ‘huge island’ and applied for a visa, this was the first time I had ever heard of a JP. I found that I had to go through a mountain of paperwork to get a visa to stay in Australia. But, this did mean that I had the chance to get help from so many JPs to witness or certify a whole bunch of documents in order to get the famous Australian Certificate.” Samia says “A marathon is nothing compared to getting the visa application done, believe me. I docilely went to see JPs and started to wonder what was a JP`s position in the community? Was it a job? No! What a surprise when I heard that they were simply volunteering to do this legal work. Volunteering?”
She goes on to say “Whenever I needed to get my documents witnessed or certified, there was one JP around the corner to serve me and others in the community. What a great commitment! After seeing so many of them, I asked what it would take to join their ranks and become one of them. I thought well, just study the course and here we go, done. No…that was not so easy for me. As you know becoming a JP is conditional upon being an Australian citizen. I was on a permanent residency visa at that time and then, I knew I would apply for citizenship once it was possible. I patiently waited for 4 years to become a citizen of Australia. I strongly wanted to become a JP and give back to the community as those who had helped me when I came to this country. I love what I do, and serving the community as a JP has been one of the best choices of my worldwide travelling, working and volunteering life. I attend the QJA monthly meetings to expand my knowledge and meet new faces and raise any concerns and interrogations during my JP services at the Indooroopilly library and to participate in some events organised by the QJA. There is so much to learn and it is a world of wonder for someone like me being from a different continent with different legal systems. It is an enormous responsibility and I am fully aware of it and extremely proud of serving the community like they did once upon a time when I needed it. By helping the community with people coming from all paths of life and origins, it gives me this great sensation of belonging to the world. Aren`t we all citizens of the world? And now, to end my career and live a full-filing life, I train and inspire people to live a healthy lifestyle. Isn`t it well known that exercising causes Health and Happiness?”
TECHNICAL NEWS QCAT ruling - Enduring Power of Attorney A recent case about the validity of an enduring power of attorney (EPA), was heard before the Queensland Administrative Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) and resulted in the Tribunal making several recommendations to JPs and Cdecs when establishing a principal’s capacity to execute an Enduring Power of Attorney or Advance Health Directive. In this case, the Tribunal found that the EPA was invalid and the Public Trustee was appointed as administrator for all financial matters. The Tribunal relied on advice from medical practitioners about the principal’s capacity and found that the principal had had moderate dementia and declining mental capacity for more than three years prior to signing the EPA. The Tribunal commented that JPs must be very careful when: “attending nursing homes for the purpose of taking instructions and assisting adults with making an EPA for someone who is unable to care for themselves and been admitted to a nursing home and who may have a history of previous health issues affecting his or her capacity”.
Serving Queensland’s Honorary Justices since 1918
7
