GAZ - EL1 - VIC - Executive Assistant to Chief Justice Alstergren

Federal Court of Australia; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne seeks an EL1 Executive Assistant to provide high-level executive and administrative support to the Chief Justice Alstergren, across the Melbourne Chambers and Sydney operations. This role demands discretion, initiative, and superb communication to manage complex correspondence, calendars, and key engagements.

The position is located in Melbourne CBD, in-office five days a week, with potential for irregular hours and travel as required to support two busy

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in providing high level executive and administrative support to heads of jurisdiction, senior officials and/or senior executives.
• Highly developed oral and written communication skills, including drafting complex correspondence to judges, staff, external organisations and the public.
• Highly developed organisational skills, including triaging high volumes of correspondence, emails, meeting requests and invitations.
• Demonstrated capacity to develop and maintain productive working relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience and knowledge of judicial/complex legal administrative environments and ability to quickly acquire knowledge of procedures, guidelines and practices of the Courts.
• Ability to set priorities and organise workload under pressure, oversee staff remotely in Sydney, and meet strict deadlines.
• Highly developed interpersonal skills and discretion in sensitive environments.
• Demonstrated professionalism, initiative, privacy and security awareness and ability to adapt to changing demands.

Responsibilities

• Provide high level executive and administrative support to the Chief Justice.
• Draft and coordinate complex correspondence, presentations and reports.
• Diaries, prioritisation and scheduling of events and meetings for the Chief Justice.
• Oversee administrative support in the Sydney Chambers.
• Liaise with judges and senior court staff regarding events and meetings.
• Communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as first point of contact for external stakeholders and organisations.
• Assist with coordination of key projects and policy development for the Chief Justice.

Skills

Executive support

Stakeholder liaison

Communication skills

Organisational skills

Discretion

Policy support

Job description

GAZ - EL1 - VIC - Executive Assistant to Chief Justice Alstergren

Federal Court of Australia – Melbourne VIC

• Non-ongoing / Ongoing, Full-Time

Position Overview
The Executive Assistant provides a high level of executive and administrative support to the Chief Justice of the FCFCOA (Division 1) Chief Judge of the FCFCOA (Division 2) (‘the Chief Justice’) to support the exercise of his statutory duties and exercise of his day-to-day responsibilities across two extremely busy Courts. Together the Courts comprise 126 judges; hundreds of legal, social science and related support staff; registries and circuits across 43 locations; and are responsibility for around 110,000 filings per year.

The Chief Justice is responsible for the management of the administrative affairs of the Courts and the effective, orderly and expeditious discharge of the business of the Courts under the FCFCOA Act.

The Executive Assistant acts as a first point of contact for the Chief Justice and liaises with senior internal and external parties to support the Chief Justice. The role demands exceptional ability to build rapport and to promote positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. The Executive Assistant must possess exceptional initiative and professional written and oral communication skills and ensure the utmost discretion and confidentiality in their interactions and handling of matters.

This is a key role that ensures the smooth and efficient operation of the Chief Justice’s Chambers. The Executive Assistant must be able to develop an excellent level of knowledge of the Courts’ strategic priorities, functions, practices and procedures, and oversee the administrative support in the Sydney Chambers to provide support to the Chief Justice.

The Executive Assistant is an integral part of the chambers of the Chief Justice and the national operations team more broadly, providing a wide range of high-level executive and administrative support. The Executive Assistant will also assist the Chief Justice and senior staff in the Chief Justice’s Chambers with important policy and projects, including the preparation of high-level correspondence, presentations, conference papers, reports and submissions. The role may also extend to dealing with other sensitive and confidential processes as requested by the Chief Justice.

The role is busy and multi-dimensional, requiring someone with agility and highly developed organisational skills, together with strong communication and interpersonal skills. The person appointed to this position will be someone who anticipates what needs to be done, shows great initiative; is highly motivated and organised, efficient, able to work under pressure. It requires frequent contact with internal and external stakeholders. The occupant of this position must enjoy working with a diverse range of people and have strong interpersonal skills.

Key Responsibilities and Duties
The key responsibilities and duties of the role include to:

• provide high level executive and administrative support to the Chief Justice;
• draft and coordinate complex correspondence, presentations and reports;
• provide appropriate support to the Chief Justice to diarise, prioritise and schedule forthcoming events and meetings, and prioritise matters for attention to resolve key issues;
• oversee administrative support in the Sydney Chambers of the Chief Justice;
• liaise with judges and senior court staff in relation to key events and meetings;
• communicate effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders;
• act as a first point of contact for the Chief Justice as required with a range of external stakeholders and organisations;
• work closely with the national operations team assisting the Chief Justice and the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Registrar;
• implement changes to work practices and processes in consultation with the Chief Justice;
• assist with the management and coordination of the Courts’ key internal and external conferences, events and meetings;
• support the Chief Justice with key projects and policy, including research and analysis to assist with policy and protocol development, including in areas such as judicial entitlements and travel.

The person performing this role will need flexibility to work irregular hours, if necessary, which is reflective of the executive level of this position, and the ability to undertake some travel. The position is located in the Melbourne CBD and based in-office 5 days per week.

Selection Criteria

• Demonstrated experience in providing high level executive and administrative support to heads of jurisdiction, senior officials and/or senior executives.
• Highly developed oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with judges and staff of the Courts, external organisations and members of the public, including drafting complex correspondence.
• Highly developed organisational skills, including the ability to triage high volumes of correspondence, emails, meeting requests and invitations in a systematic way.
• Demonstrated capacity to develop and maintain productive working relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience and in-depth knowledge of the operations of judicial and/or complex legal administrative environments and demonstrated working knowledge or clearly demonstrated capability to quickly acquire a sound working knowledge of the procedures, guidelines, policies and practices of the Courts.
• Ability to set priorities and organise workload under pressure, oversee staff remotely in Sydney, to provide seamless high-level support, managing competing priorities to meet strict deadlines.
• Highly developed interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work in an environment requiring utmost tact, diplomacy and discretion.
• Demonstrated high level of professionalism and initiative, privacy and security awareness, and ability to adapt to changing demands.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment
Candidates may use AI tools to assist with their participation in this recruitment process unless otherwise advised. Where AI tools are used, candidates are responsible for ensuring that all information submitted is transparent, accurate, and genuinely reflects their own skills, capabilities, and experience. For more information, see:

Eligibility
Employment with the Court is subject to the conditions prescribed in the Public Service Act 1999, and the following:

• Australian citizenship – the successful applicant must hold Australian citizenship;
• Security and character clearance – the successful applicant must satisfy a Police Records Check, and may also be required to complete security clearances during the course of their employment;
• Health clearance – the successful applicant may be required to complete a health declaration or attend a medical assessment to confirm their fitness for duty.

Interested candidates who have received a redundancy benefit from an APS agency are welcome to apply but note that they cannot be engaged until their redundancy benefit period has expired.

Diversity and Inclusion
Federal Court Australia is committed to supporting an inclusive and diverse workforce and welcomes and encourages applications from People with Disability. First Nations peoples, LGBTIQA+ people, people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds, mature age workers, as well as young workers and supporting an inter-generational workforce and supporting gender equity and families.

Federal Court Australia will provide reasonable adjustments for candidates to participate equitably in the recruitment process and discuss workplace adjustments to fulfil the inherent requirements of the role.

RecruitAbility
RecruitAbility applies to this vacancy. Under the RecruitAbility scheme you will be invited to participate in further assessment activity for the vacancy if you choose to apply under the scheme; declare you. have disability; and meet the minimum requirements for the job. For more information visit: https://www.apsc.gov.au/recruitability

Application Close: Thursday, 15 November 2026 at 11:30 pm (ADST)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are strongly encouraged to apply

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