Outcome 1
Federal Court of Australia
The FCA is a superior court of record and a court of law and equity. It is a contemporary national Court that is accessible, diverse and trusted. It decides disputes according to law – as quickly, inexpensively and efficiently as possible.
The FCA is vested with judicial power of the Commonwealth, having been established under section 71 of the Australian Constitution. It sits in all capital cities and elsewhere in Australia from time to time. Since July 2012, the FCA has had responsibility for the administrative affairs of the NNTT.
The NNTT is an independent statutory body, established under the Native Title Act 1993. The NNTT performs functions and exercises powers to support the recognition, protection and management of native title rights across Australia. The NNTT is included within the Federal Court of Australia's appropriation.
The FCA’s jurisdiction is broad, covering almost all civil matters arising under Australian federal law, including administrative law, reviewing the lawfulness of government decisions; admiralty and maritime law; competition and consumer law; corporate and insolvency law; human rights and anti-discrimination law; industrial relations and employment law; intellectual property law; taxation law; and Native Title claims and post determination proceedings. It also covers some summary and indictable criminal matters.
Purpose | Decide disputes according to law – promptly, courteously, and effectively and, in so doing, to interpret the statutory law and develop the general law of the Commonwealth, to fulfil the role of a court exercising the judicial power of the Commonwealth under the Constitution |
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Outcome | Apply and uphold the rule of law for litigants in the Federal Court of Australia and parties in the National Native Title Tribunal through the resolution of matters according to law and through the effective management of the administrative affairs of the Court and Tribunal |
Program | The exercise of the jurisdiction of the Federal Court of Australia and supporting the operations of the National Native Title Tribunal |
Key activities |
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Performance measure 1 | Timely completion of cases |
Performance measure 2 | Resolve matters according to law as quickly and efficiently as possible] |
Targets
| Target | 2026–27 | 2027–28 | 2028–29 | 2029–30 |
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Target 1 | 85% of cases completed within 18 months | 85% of cases completed within 18 months | 85% of cases completed within 18 months | 85% of cases completed within 18 months |
Target 275% of judgments delivered within three months of being reserved | 75% of judgments delivered within 3 months | 75% of judgments delivered within 3 months | 75% of judgments delivered within 3 months | 75% of judgments delivered within 3 months |
Measure type
Target 1 and target 2 will be measured by reference to quantitative data.
Assessment method (tolerances)
High-level, quantitative data is limited in what they communicate about the Court’s work. Refer to Caveats section.
Rationale/context
Target 1 measures the timely progress of proceedings through the FCA. Target 2 reflects the timely finalisation of proceedings after a final hearing and/or final submissions of the parties.
Methodology/data sources
Target 1 will be measured by reference to the date of each application and the date of the final judgment, sourced from CourtPath.
Target 2 will be measured by reference to the last day of hearing or final submissions of the parties to the publication of judgment, sourced from CourtPath.
Caveats
Finalisation rates and time to judgment can be impacted by multiple factors including the length of the hearing and complexity of the factual and legal issues in the proceeding. Hearings may last a day, a week, several weeks or months. They may occur on consecutive days or may be spread out in various tranches. Pleadings may be under 10 pages, or hundreds of pages. Evidence may be oral and documentary; it may be thousands of pages. Transcript of hearings may be many hundreds or thousands of pages. Written submissions filed by the parties may be 10 pages or hundreds of pages.
It necessarily follows the time taken to complete a case, to write and publish judgments varies, depending on the case.
Judges are not given dedicated time to write judgments. Rather, they must write judgments while managing cases in their dockets (averaging around 60–70 proceedings for each judge) including determining interlocutory applications, dealing with litigants in person, performing urgent duty work on rosters, sitting on and determining appeals for three months a year, and conducting hearings in their other matters. Once written, judgments must also be proofed to a high standard, which also takes time.
Detail and rationale of changes since the 2025–26 Corporate Plan
Performance measure 2 was adjusted to reflect section 37M of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth).
Target 2 was amended following the outcome of a meeting of the Judges of the FCA in 2025. It is considered that the amended target more appropriately takes into account the factors that may impact on the time to handing down judgment.
Key activities of the NNTT
The NNTT is an independent statutory body and has identified the following key activities for 2026–27:
- enhance digital service delivery and accessibility through technology solutions, website improvements, online resources and continued development of the NTV Plus visualisation tool
- strengthen information management and knowledge preservation by implementing improved document management systems and continuing digitisation of vital records case material and cultural evidence
- build organisational capability and service excellence by developing internal knowledge, skills and culture to respond effectively to emerging needs and stakeholder expectations
- deliver stakeholder-focused and culturally appropriate services through continuous engagement, feedback mechanisms and strategic partnership that maximise education and outreach outcomes.
The results of the NNTT will be documented in a report prepared by the President of the NNTT and published in the 2026–27 FCA Annual Report.
