Semple review: will the FMC be split?
Wednesday August 27, 2008

Semple review: will the FMC be split?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Australian reported two days ago that the Semple review into the operation of the Family and Federal Magistrates Courts is considering three options: splitting the Federal Magistrates Court into arms of the Federal and Family Courts respectively, changing the standing of the Federal Magistrates Court, or the creation of a Federal Courts Authority.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has commissioned former Attorney-General’s Department guru to undertake a review of the operation of the Family Court, the Family Court of Western Australia and the Federal Magistrates Court.

I am only a little fish in a big pond. From this Brisbane family lawyer’s point of view, the current administrative arrangement between the Family Court and the Federal Magistrates Court is crazy. Federal Magistrates have far too much work to do. There seems to be duplication between those courts in some of the administrative positions.

But to create a Federal Courts Authority? Madness. This is an authority that would be beholden to no court and to no one but the Attorney-General. Each court should have the resources that it needs. The media has taken great pleasure in repeating the gossip about lack of teabags in Adelaide. Do we want to repeat those fights with more bureaucracy?

Stephen Page, Harrington Family Lawyers, Brisbane spage@harringtonfamilylawyers.com 61(7) 3221 9544

Request an Appointment
Fill in the form below to find out if you have a claim.
Request an Appointment - Stephen Page
Things to Read, Watch & Listen
Queensland Donor Limits - Lesbian Couples Now One Family

Donor limits Queensland: lesbian couples now one family

A lesbian couple using the same sperm donor should not become two families simply because both women want to carry a child. That is the straightforward principle behind Queensland Health’s reversal of its guidance on donor limits. The revised guidance recognises those women as one family for the purposes of Queensland’s donor limit. It removes… Read More »Donor limits Queensland: lesbian couples now one family

Page Provan Calls for Repeal of Surrogacy Parentage Regulation Changes

On 9 October 2026, our director Stephen Page wrote to the Attorney-General, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, calling for the repeal of Part 3 of the Family Law Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026. If left in place, these regulations will remove the statutory presumptions that currently help establish the legal parentage of children… Read More »Page Provan Calls for Repeal of Surrogacy Parentage Regulation Changes

Surrogacy Parentage Law Change: Is Your Child at Risk?

Australian Surrogacy Law Change: 3,000 Children’s Parentage at Risk

A change to Australia’s family law regulations threatens to remove an important layer of legal certainty for nearly 3,000 children born overseas through surrogacy. For their families, the issue is anything but technical. It concerns whether Australian law presumes that the people raising these children are their parents. The repeal of regulation 10.3 of the… Read More »Australian Surrogacy Law Change: 3,000 Children’s Parentage at Risk

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board