Eight new judges have been appointed to the Federal Court of Australia today, including two in the Queensland Registry, Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC announced.
Erin Longbottom KC and Amelia Wheatley KC will be based in Queensland.
Ms Longbottom will start this month on 20 December. She graduated from the University of Queensland in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law (Hons). In 2003 Ms Longbottom was admitted to practice as a Barrister and in 2019 was appointed Queen’s Counsel.
Ms Wheatley will commence next month on 6 January 2025.
She graduated from James Cook University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) in 1994 and later obtained a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the Queensland University of Technology.
Ms Wheatley was admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1999. In 2005 she signed the Bar Roll in Queensland and in 2019 was appointed Queen’s Counsel.
Mr Dreyfus, who congratulated all the judges, said: “These appointments follow an open call for expressions of interest across Australia. All applications were considered by an advisory panel comprised of eminent individuals.
“I thank each new judge for their willingness to serve the people of Australia.”
He said four of the appointments were supported by new funding made in the 2024-25 Budget:
- funding for two appointments was included in reforms to increase capacity to resolve significant backlogs in migration and protection applications;
- funding for two appointments was included in a package to support better legal outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including by accelerating the resolution of unresolved native title claims through the expansion of the Federal Court’s case management and mediation model.
The other appointees are the Honourable Justice Samuel Vandongen, Cameron Moore SC, Nicholas Owens SC, Professor James Stellios, Houda Younan SC and Elizabeth Bennett SC.
Share this article