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8 new judges appointed to Federal Court
The Federal Court of Australia is set to welcome eight new judges in the coming weeks after new funding was made available through the 2024–25 budget.
Lauren Croft
Eight new judges have been appointed to the Federal Court across NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland.
The judges are the Honourable Justice Samuel Vandongen, Cameron Moore SC, Nicholas Owens SC, Professor James Stellios, Houda Younan SC, Elizabeth Bennett SC, Erin Longbottom KC, and Amelia Wheatley KC.
Four of these appointments, according to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, are supported by new funding made available through the 2024–25 budget.
Funding for two appointments was included in reforms to increase capacity to resolve significant backlogs in migration and protection applications – and additional funding for another two appointments was included in a package to support better legal outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including by accelerating the resolution of unresolved native title claims through the expansion of the Federal Court’s case management and mediation model.
Justice Vandongen has been appointed to the Western Australian Registry and will commence on 17 December 2024. He was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 2022, and since 2023, has sat as a justice of appeal on the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Moore and Owens have both been appointed to the NSW Registry and will commence on 18 December 2024; Stellios and Younan have also both been appointed to the NSW Registry and will each commence on 19 December; Bennett has been appointed to the Victorian Registry and will commence on 20 December; Longbottom will also commence her new role on 20 December at the Queensland Registry; and Wheatley has also been appointed to the Queensland Registry and will commence on 6 January 2025.
“These appointments follow an open call for expressions of interest across Australia. All applications were considered by an advisory panel comprised of eminent individuals,” Dreyfus said.
“I thank each new judge for their willingness to serve the people of Australia.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
