NSW magistrates are officially recognised as judges after changes to relevant state legislation introduced to parliament last year.
The Labor state government has amended the Local Court Act 2007 to legalise changing the title of magistrates to judges, describing the move as a proper acknowledgement of the work done in the local court circuit.
NSW local courts are said to be hearing more and increasingly complex cases each year, resulting in the state’s local court system being Australia’s busiest court jurisdiction.
The number of matters started in the Local Court have increased by a third over the past decade, the government said when announcing the change on Friday.
There were reportedly nearly half a million cases started in the NSW local court in 2024.
The government says the title of magistrate is a historical one stemming from a time when judicial officers were appointed from the public service and sat in the Court of Petty Sessions.
Meanwhile, Local Court judicial officers have been required to hold legal qualifications for more than 70 years.
‘Judicial officers in the Local Court do the same things as their counterparts in other courts in NSW,’ Attorney General Michael Daley said as part of the announcement, ‘not only is there no reason not to make this change; it is absolutely deserved.’
NSW joins the Northern Territory’s Local Court and Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in changing the title of magistrate to judge.
The title change doesn’t affect existing powers, functions or protections of Local Court judicial officers.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
