“His Honour has delivered 1239 judgments. In addition, he had the added pressure of holding a senior administrative role within the court for the past 12 months.

“The judge has recently agreed to stand down from this administrative role and is receiving mentoring in appropriate areas to fully assist and support the judge to fulfil his duties.”

Judge Vasta, who was a crown prosecutor before joining the court, has a reputation for making basic errors of fact and law, being rude to litigants, taking over cross-examinations, making orders on his own motion and wrongly sending those who question him to jail for contempt. It has led to speculation he could be Australia's worst judge.

In December, a Brisbane father of two young children spent six days in a maximum-security prison on suicide watch before he was released pending his appeal. The Full Court of the Family Court overturned the conviction and called Judge Vasta's conduct of the case an "affront to justice".

Earlier this month, the Full Federal Court ruled that an underpaying employer who was fined $85,000 and spent 10 days in jail for contempt had been denied a fair trial. It cited Judge Vasta's “egregious" behaviour, which included “excessive and unwarranted interventions” and being "openly hostile ... disparaging and sarcastic".

Until that decision, Judge Alstergren – who is also Chief Justice of the Family Court – had resisted calls to take action against one of his strongest allies in Australia’s biggest and busiest court. However, when the Full Federal Court made the same criticisms as other appeal judges courts, he called Judge Vasta aside.

After being invited to comment on the court’s statement, the Law Council confirmed on Sunday that it was still considering referring Judge Vasta to Parliament.

“The Law Council wrote to the Chief Judge in relation to matters of concern in relation to this judicial officer arising out of judgments of appellate courts,’’ said Law Council president Arthur Moses.


“At this time, I do not consider it appropriate to release a copy of that correspondence. The Law Council will await a response to that correspondence before deciding what if any further steps may be taken by the Law Council."

Mr Moses added there was "no excuse for the conduct exposed by the appellate courts".

The court’s statement also said the Chief Judge "has a number of steps available to him, including; counselling, mentoring and in exceptional circumstances, the judge in question may be temporarily removed from sitting''.

It added that since last year there has been "a more rigorous induction process for new judges, a formal and ongoing mentoring program, closer management and monitoring of judgments, and a counselling process with judges of the superior courts".