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NSW Bar ‘disappointed’ with major court merger
The NSW Bar Association has joined law societies, legal bodies and retired justices and judges from across Australia in expressing their disappointment with the Family and Federal Circuit Court merger, which was approved controversially last week.
Naomi Neilson
More than the frustrations that the federal government moved ahead with a merger vehemently opposed by key legal bodies and professionals, the NSW Bar said it is disappointed that their alternative model put forward in July 2018 – preferred by more than 155 individuals and organisations – was overlooked in the final decision.
“While the association is disappointed with the outcome of the vote, we are proud to have made an important contribution to informing this critical public discussion and advocating for the best interests of Australian children, families and victims of family violence. We will continue to do so,” Mr Game said in a statement.
Mr Game added that in 2018, when it proposed the alternative model, it said that the Family Court could not be a “gold star institution” without proper funding and resources but “regrettably, the merger bill was not accompanied by any additional funding for many states and territories, including NSW”.
“This is despite the fact that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court were each already facing backlogs,” Mr Game added.
As of November 2020, he said that five Federal Circuit Court judges in the Sydney registry had between 300 to 400 cases each in their dockets. Another Sydney-based Federal Circuit Court judge and three Federal Circuit Court judges at the Parramatta registry had between 400 and 500 cases in their dockets to address. In the Wollongong registry, a Federal Circuit Court judge had more than 600.
“The Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, as his Honour was then, had suggested some years ago that reforms to reduce the number of cases to something like 100 cases per judge would be needed to significantly reduce delays. Regrettably, that has not occurred, and these reforms will not do so,” Mr Game said.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
