Editors --- "Federal Magistrates Service" [1999] AdminRw 10; (1999) 51 Admin Review 38

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FEDERAL MAGISTRATES SERVICE

On 24 June 1999, the Attorney-General introduced into the Parliament a package of bills to establish the new Federal Magistrates Service. The new Chapter III court, which is expected to be operational by the year 2000, will be the first lower court established in the federal jurisdiction.

The Federal Magistrates Service has been established in response to the increased volume of routine matters to come before the Federal and Family Courts, due to the widening jurisdiction in those areas.

By dealing with the less complex matters in the federal jurisdiction, it is expected that the new court will ease the workload of the higher courts, and reduce the substantial delays that applicants in the Family Court are presently experiencing. The Government also expects that the Magistracy will improve access to justice by reducing legal fees and by providing a more informal environment in which matters can be heard. To this end, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are being encouraged in the new court.

The jurisdiction of the Magistrates Service will be concurrent with the Federal and Family Courts, and matters will be able to be transferred between it and the higher federal courts.

Specifically, the Magistracy will have jurisdiction to hear the following matters, currently dealt with by the Federal Court:

• applications under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (pending the enactment of the Human Rights Amendment Bill 1998 (No. 1));

• matters under section 127 and Part XA of the Workplace Relations Act 1996;

• matters arising under the Bankruptcy Act 1966; and

• matters arising under the consumer protection provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Division 1 and 1A of Part V).

In relation to administrative review, there will be:

• power to transfer appeals under section 44(1) & (2) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 ('AAT Act'), from the Federal Court to the Magistracy, but not in a case where the Administrative Appeals Tribunal's decision involved a presidential member, or a matter under the Migration Act 1958 ('Migration Act'); and

• original jurisdiction to hear Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 matters - without the transfer process of AAT Act appeals - but, similarly, not in relation to a matter under the Migration Act.

In its Family law jurisdiction, the Federal Magistrates Service will be able to hear:

• applications for nullity of marriage;

• family law property disputes where the disputed property is worth less than $300,000, or where the parties consent to the matter being heard by a Federal Magistrate;

• parenting orders providing for the residence of a child, where the parties consent to the matter being heard by a Federal Magistrate; and

• parenting orders providing for other matters such as contact, maintenance and specific issues.

Magistrates will be invested with the full powers of federal judicial officers, and so, unlike the decisions of registrars or tribunals, their decisions will be final and only appealable on questions of law.