Wollongong’s overburdened family law registry will be stripped of a full-time judge as the Federal Circuit Court looks to funnel dwindling resources into similarly stretched Sydney courts.
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Under a proposal by Federal Circuit Court chief judge John Pascoe, a visiting judge will sit in Wollongong’s Burelli Street registry for only six-to-eight weeks of the year.
The proposal comes amid the Court’s deepening crisis of funding and manpower, which has seen some parents and children wait more than three years for a trial date.
The proposal has shocked Illawarra family law practitioners, who predict a further blowout in waiting times and costs for their clients.
The Wollongong and District Law Society’s family law chairwoman Lorelle Longbottom expects many will be forced to travel to Sydney – and to pay for their lawyer to do the same. Assuming a matter required 12 court dates over a three-year period, this could add around $7000 to her clients’ legal bill, she suggested.
Property valuations and expensive psychiatric reports could become outdated as cases dragged on. Meantime, children caught up in the proceedings endured prolonged exposure to “conflict and uncertainty”.
“[Delays] have a massive ripple effect,” Ms Longbottom said.
"Some parties will have spent $17,000 on a report, then that report goes stale, so they’ve got to pay for updating it.
“We’ve been pushing for a long, long time to appoint a full-time judge to Wollongong. To get the opposite outcome would be bitterly, bitterly disappointing.”
Judge Tom Altobelli is intended to spend 75 per cent of his sitting time in Wollongong, but with 550 matters waiting to be heard, he has become unofficially full-time.
His caseload includes a large volume of matters complicated by family violence, admissions to mental health units and drug use.
With several Sydney and Parramatta judges poised to retire, and the Court in the grip of an unofficial, Federal Government-imposed hiring freeze, Sydney courts are expected to become further overrun.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Circuit Court of Australia said said the workload at Wollongong registry warranted a full-time judge.
“However the Court's resources are such that Judge Altobelli cannot remain based in Wollongong unless there are new appointments ... to replace Judges who have retired,” she said.
Under the proposal, parties could continue to file documents at the Wollongong registry. But judges would only “circuit” to the area to hear matters “depending on available resources”.
Of the proposal, Chief Judge Pascoe said: "This is not something the Court wants to do, but retirements in Sydney and Parramatta have left the Court with insufficient resources for an ever-increasing and more complex workload”.
“Clearly Wollongong will be given priority if further judicial resources become available to the Court."
