Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (1) on sheet 5932:

(1)    Schedule 1, page 112 (after line 23), after item 74, insert:

74A  At the end of section 34

Add:

        (3)    The Governor-General shall cause at least one Registry in each State to be staffed on a full-time basis and the complement of staff in each such Registry to include a full-time Registrar.

In moving this amendment, I have taken out the comma and the word ‘for’. The effect of this amendment is to ensure that the intention of the court to remove the registrar from the Tasmanian office would be effectively disallowed. However, I begin by asking the government about the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976. I draw the government’s attention to division 3, clause 18N: ‘Personnel other than the Registrar’. Subclause (1) says:

In addition to the Registrar, there are the following officers of the Court:

(a)

a District Registrar of the Court for each District Registry ...

I ask the government if it has legal advice that that section does not require a registrar to be kept in Hobart.