That is, according to Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon and local family law practitioners, who say the community has been left in the dark and at risk over a future replacement for Judge Janet Terry, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 earlier this month.

"This isn't the first time the Liberal government has failed to appoint a replacement Federal Circuit Court judge in Newcastle within a timely manner," Ms Claydon said. "Last time the government waited many months to find a replacement, leaving judges with twice the case load and Novocastrians on wait lists for nineteen months, subsequently blowing the backlog out of proportion."

Ms Claydon said "lives could be put at risk" if a replacement for Judge Terry was not "actioned immediately", given many cases involve the trauma of martial breakdown, domestic violence, drug abuse, and child custody disputes.

Family lawyer and former president of the Hunter Valley Family Law Practitioners Association Christopher White equated the government's inaction to the "emerging crisis in family law" in Newcastle to laying off one third of the staff at John Hunter Hospital in the midst of a pandemic.

"While that concept is utterly unimaginable, the escalating crisis of violence in families over the past two decades has largely fallen on deaf ears and women and children continue to suffer in silence," Mr White said.

Judge Terry's retirement leaves just two judges on the bench in Newcastle and Mr White said the Federal Circuit Court in Newcastle was the busiest in Australia in terms of the volume of cases per judge.

Mr White said a freedom of information request made in 2017, when Newcastle was left with two judges for a period of about eight months, revealed the number of cases on each judge's docket was almost double the national average.

"The impact was significant and regrettably, long lasting," Mr White said. "Parenting and financial disputes for families were not resolved. Children were faced in unimaginable situations, left in environments where drugs, alcohol abuse and family violence was rife."

Judge Terry's retirement came as a surprise to no one, Mr White said, but "astoundingly" the Newcastle Registry was once again faced with the same predicament as 2017. "For a government that has made much about the scourge of family violence and the effect that it has on women and children, how can it sit back and not replace Judge Terry?" Mr White said.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Department said judicial appointments were important decisions and announcements would be made as soon as possible.

"The Australian government continues to monitor the ongoing resourcing and funding of the courts to ensure families are supported during difficult times," the statement said. "The appointment of a judge is an important decision, which is given careful consideration to ensure all judicial appointments are based on merit. Eleven judicial appointments have been made to the Federal Circuit Court in 2021 with four of those appointments made as recently as July and August. The government is progressing further judicial appointments to the federal courts and announcements will be made as soon as possible."