Federal Magistrate's Court

It was announced today by the Attorney General that the Federal Magistrate's Court ("FMC") is being abolished. When the FMC was established in 1999 it's purpose was to provide an accessible and simpler alternative to the Federal Court of Australia. Now the government has decided that it is too expensive to maintain two courts and a revamped Federal Court will now have two tiers - with judges and magistrates (who will deal with the less complex matters).

This now means that most judicial review of migration decisions will be back in the Federal Court of Australia, but will be determined by the magistrates (who were previously part of the FMC). This is a classic case of the old is new again.

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizensheep/518034349/sizes/s/