Registrars of the Court
The Registrar
Ms Sia Lagos is the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Registrar of the Court. The Principal Registrar is appointed by the Governor-General on the nomination of the Chief Justice. The Principal Registrar has the same powers as the Head of a Statutory Agency of the Australian Public Service in respect of the officers and staff of the Court employed under the Public Service Act 1999 (section 18Q of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976).
The Principal Registrar is supported by Deputy Registrars.
District Registries and District Registrars
To enable the Court to exercise its jurisdiction nationally, there is a Registry in each capital city. The District Registries provide operational support to the judges in each state, as well as registry services to legal practitioners and members of the public. Each Registry is managed by a District Registrar.
From 1 July 2019, the registry service functions of the Federal Court, the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court (now the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia) were amalgamated into a new program known as the Commonwealth Courts Registry Services.
District Registrars are appointed by the Registrar under section 18N of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976.
Registrars must take an oath or make an affirmation of office before undertaking their duties (section 18Y of the Federal Court of Australia Act).
Each Registry also has Deputy District Registrars who support judges and provide procedural advice to clients and staff.
Registrars perform statutory functions assigned to them by the Federal Court of Australia Act, Federal Court Rules 2011, Federal Court Bankruptcy Rules 2016 and the Federal Court (Corporations) Rules 2000. These include issuing process, taxing costs and settling appeal indexes.
They also exercise various powers delegated by judges under the Bankruptcy Act 1966, Corporations Act 2001 and Native Title Act 1993.
A number of staff in each registry also perform functions and exercise delegated powers under the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999.
