Appendix 6 - Committees | Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Table A6.1: Federal Circuit Court Committees, 30 June 2021

Overarching Committees

Title	Members	Terms of reference
National Practice Area Committee	Chief Judge Alstergren (Chair) Judge Driver Judge Riethmuller Judge Spelleken Judge Dunkley Judge Cole OAM Judge Willis AM Judge Harland Judge McNab Judge Kendall David Pringle Virginia Wilson Jordan Di Carlo Catherine Bull (Secretariat)	To advise the Chief Judge about current and proposed case management structures, judicial conduct, judicial education and possible interaction between the Federal Circuit Court and other courts. Each area of the Court is represented according to national practice area: Family law north (comprising Queensland) (Judge Spelleken) Family law south (comprising Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania) (Judge McGuire) Family law east (comprising New South Wales and the ACT) (Judge Dunkley) Migration law (Judge Riethmuller) General federal law (Judge McNab)
Case Management Judges Committee	Judge Dunkley (National Case Management Judge) Judge Brown Judge Hughes Judge Terry Judge Street Judge Middleton Judge Boyle Judge McNab Judge Kendall Amanda Morris	To assist the Chief Judge and the National Coordinator of Case Management in the case management of the Court and to enhance the adoption of consistent case management practices throughout the Court.
Legal Committee	Judge Driver (Chair) Judge Jarrett Judge Hughes Judge Riley Judge Harland Judge Kendall Judge Baird Virginia Wilson Amanda Morris	To consider and refer recommendations to the Chief Judge and the Court on possible rule amendments and wider legal issues concerning the Court’s jurisdiction.

Title

Members

Terms of reference

National Practice Area Committee

Chief Judge Alstergren (Chair)

Judge Driver

Judge Riethmuller

Judge Spelleken

Judge Dunkley

Judge Cole OAM

Judge Willis AM

Judge Harland

Judge McNab

Judge Kendall

David Pringle

Virginia Wilson

Jordan Di Carlo

Catherine Bull (Secretariat)

To advise the Chief Judge about current and proposed case management structures, judicial conduct, judicial education and possible interaction between the Federal Circuit Court and other courts. Each area of the Court is represented according to national practice area:

Family law north (comprising Queensland) (Judge Spelleken)
Family law south (comprising Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania) (Judge McGuire)
Family law east (comprising New South Wales and the ACT) (Judge Dunkley)
Migration law (Judge Riethmuller)
General federal law (Judge McNab)

Case Management Judges Committee

Judge Dunkley (National

Case Management Judge)

Judge Brown

Judge Hughes

Judge Terry

Judge Street

Judge Middleton

Judge Boyle

Judge McNab

Judge Kendall

Amanda Morris

To assist the Chief Judge and the National Coordinator of Case Management in the case management of the Court and to enhance the adoption of consistent case management practices throughout the Court.

Legal Committee

Judge Driver (Chair)

Judge Jarrett

Judge Hughes

Judge Riley

Judge Harland

Judge Kendall

Judge Baird

Virginia Wilson

Amanda Morris

To consider and refer recommendations to the Chief Judge and the Court on possible rule amendments and wider legal issues concerning the Court’s jurisdiction.

Working groups and committees


Title	Members	Terms of reference
Finance Committee	Judge Driver (Chair) Judge Cole OAM Judge A Kelly Judge Costigan Judge Boymal Catherine Sullivan Kathryn Hunter David Pringle	To consider the Court’s budget position and financial affairs generally, and to make recommendations to the Chief Judge where appropriate on policies and procedures in light of expenditure. The committee also assists the CEO and Principal Registrar in the discharge of his or her obligations arising from the delegation of responsibility for the Federal Circuit Court budget, as part of the broader entity.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Access to Justice Committee	Judge Willis AM (Chair) Judge Coates Judge C Kelly Judge Terry Judge Kemp Judge Myers AM Judge Stewart Judge Young Judge Boyle Dennis Remedio Mr Rick Welsh David Pringle	To assess how the Federal Circuit Court can improve access to justice in this Court for Indigenous litigants.
Family Violence Committee *joint committee	Judge Hughes (Chair) Justice Ryan Justice Hannam Judge Brown Judge Spelleken Judge Terry Judge Bender Janet Carmichael Di Lojszczyk Lisa O’Neill Rachael Cowdell (Secretariat)	To provide advice to the Chief Judge, the Chief Justice and the CEO and Principal Registrar of both courts on the issue of family violence.
Judicial Wellbeing Committee	Chief Judge Alstergren (ex officio) Judge Driver Judge Willis AM Judge Stewart Judge Vasta (Chair) Judge Heffernan Jordan Di Carlo Regional wellbeing coordinators Judge Burchardt (Dandenong and Melbourne) (with Judge Stewart) Judge Obradovic (Parramatta) Judge Monahan (Lionel Bowen Building Sydney) Judge Costigan (Newcastle) Judge Kendall (Perth) Judge Hughes (Canberra) Judge Purdon-Sully (Brisbane) Judge Stewart (Melbourne) (with Judge Burchardt) Judge Driver (William Street Sydney) Judge Heffernan (Adelaide) Judge Willis AM (all single judge registries) Judge Vasta (overall coordinator)	To promote and protect the health and wellbeing of the Court’s judges throughout their judicial careers.
Judicial Education Committee	Judge Cole OAM Judge Vasta Judge Stewart Judge Street Judge Mercuri Judge Kendall (Chair) Judge Kari Judge Taglieri	To provide advice and recommendations to the Chief Judge on judicial education and professional development and to coordinate and promote professional development activities.
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Committee	Judge Harman Judge Vasta Judge Obradovic	To identify barriers to access to justice in the Federal Circuit Court for persons from non-English speaking backgrounds. Identify the relevant issues and develop and implement strategies to overcome such barriers.
Children’s Committee *joint committee	Judge Cole OAM (Chair) Justice Moncrieff (Family Court of Western Australia) Janet Carmichael Kylie Beckhouse (Legal Aid NSW) Alexandra Wearne (Independent Children’s Lawyer, NSW) Kate Bint (Independent Children’s Lawyer, Qld), and Gayathri Paramasivam (Victoria Legal Aid)	To explore the work to be undertaken with respect to the involvement of children in parenting proceedings and improving the experiences of children in the family law system.
Research and Ethics Committee *joint committee	Justice Stevenson (Chair) Justice Gill (Chair) Judge M. Neville Virginia Wilson Janet Carmichael Manuela Galvao Elizabeth Evans (Secretariat)	To consider research proposals that are received by the Court on their merits and against ethical guidelines.

Collaborative committees


Title	Members	Terms of reference
Joint Rules Harmonisation Working Group	The Hon Ray Finkelstein AO QC (Chair) Chief Justice Alstergren Deputy Chief Justice McClelland Justice Ryan Justice Watts Justice Rees Justice Williams Justice Hartnett Judge Driver Judge Hughes Judge Harland David Pringle Virginia Wilson Emma Poole Christopher Lum Jordan Di Carlo	Responsible for developing a common set of rules, forms and case management in the Courts. The working group is chaired by the Hon Ray Finkelstein AO QC, who replaced the Hon Dr Chris Jessup QC, and assisted by two barristers, Emma Poole and Christopher Lum.
Joint Judicial Conduct Committee	The Hon Jennifer Coate AO Justice Gill Justice Baumann AM Justice Harper Justice Hartnett Justice Altobelli Judge Emmett AM Judge Purdon-Sully Judge McNab Judge Obradovic Judge Mercuri Judge Kendall (Chair) David Pringle Virginia Wilson Amanda Morris	Responsible for reviewing the Courts’ protocols for dealing with allegations of judicial misconduct and to make recommendations as warranted
Joint Costs Advisory Committee	Philippa Lynch (High Court) Scott Tredwell (Federal Court) Virginia Wilson (Family Court and Federal Circuit Court) Amanda Morris (Family Court and Federal Circuit Court)	To inquire into, and make recommendations on, any variations in the quantum of costs (including expenses and fees for witnesses) allowable to legal practitioners which should be contained in the scales of costs in the Rules of the respective courts.
Audit and Risk Management Committee	Mr Ian Govey, External Member (Chair) Justice Nicholas (Federal Court) Justice Farrell (Federal Court) Justice Murphy (Federal Court) Justice Harper (Family Court) Justice McEvoy (Family Court) Judge Driver (Federal Circuit Court) Judge Howard (Federal Circuit Court) Ms Frances Cawthra, External Member (retired December 2020) Mr David Donovan, External Member (appointed January 2021)	The Audit Committee is established in accordance with s 45 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The CEO and Principal Registrar must establish and maintain an Audit Committee, with the functions and responsibilities required by s 17 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014. The functions of the committee are to: provide independent assurance of the effectiveness of the entity’s Risk Management Framework review compliance with the entity’s Risk Management Policy monitor the implementation of the entity’s Risk Management Plan review compliance with finance law, including financial and performance reporting review risk reports periodically (quarterly and annual reports) review the internal control programs and advise whether key controls are appropriate and are operating effectively monitor and understand the potential impact of emerging risks on the entity’s ability to achieve its objectives, and provide assurance that the entity has well-designed business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements in place and are tested periodically.
Federal Court Security Committee	Justice Logan (Chair) (Federal Court) Deputy Chief Justice McClelland (Family Court) Judge Vasta (Federal Circuit Court) Sia Lagos (Federal Court) Catherine Sullivan (Federal Court) Steve Fewster (Federal Court)	Considers issues of security across the Federal Courts with cross-jurisdictional representation, supporting the overarching security issues across the entity.
Digital Court Program Steering Group	Sia Lagos (Federal Court) Catherine Sullivan (Federal Court) Craig Reilly (Federal Court) Jamie Crew (Federal Court) Justice McClelland (Family Court) Judge Jarrett (Federal Circuit Court) Justice Perram (Federal Court) Justice Sutherland (Family Court of Western Australia) Suzanne Taylor (Family Court of Western Australia)	To oversee the introduction of the Digital Court File and document management system and associated case management.