Attorney-general Christian Porter wants to merge the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court by early next year as part of a push to cut waiting times and reduce trauma for families.
But his announcement appears to have taken some in the legal sector by surprise, and the opposition said the minister has failed to consult properly.
"Everyone that you talk to who understands the court system, but particularly the tens of thousands of Australians who use it, know that the system at the moment does not work at all well," Mr Porter said.
"We have two parallel courts, different rules, forms, procedures. Individuals who are in the system get bounced around like family-law footballs from one court to the other ... They wait too long."
The attorney-general said tens of thousands of people turn to those courts every year and they deserve more efficient outcomes.
"(A total of) 22,000 matters are listed for final order in these courts every year, representing tens of thousands of Australians, and our priority is to get better outcomes for those Australians."
But opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus told the ABC the minister failed to consult properly and the backlogs in the courts stem from inadequate funding and a failure to fill judicial vacancies on time.
"It appears that the judges weren't consulted, that families, family groups, the sector, wasn't consulted. Family lawyers weren't consulted. The government's decided that this is somehow the result of inefficiencies in the court system, but it is responsible for not filling judicial vacancies," Mr Dreyfus said.
Law Council president Morry Bailes said the failure to fill the judicial vacancies had contributed to delays.
"We've had registries in both the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court around Australia where there have been vacant positions. But that undoubtedly contributes to the creation of backlogs. That hasn't helped at all.
"And as to the rise of unrepresented litigants in our courts, that is squarely - or if not squarely, certainly very heavily contributed (to) - by the inability to get legal aid and a lack of funding for the legal-assistance sector.
"So, these are complex problems that have built over a long period of time, and they can't necessarily be solved simply."
A former Chief Justice to the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, told the ABC he felt the Family Court should remain independent.
"There was always a real consideration as to how we could best serve the people and how we could hopefully help them to resolve disputes.
"The whole thrust of the Family Court was that way. I mentioned our counselling service. It used to resolve about 60 per cent of children's cases before proceedings were even commenced. All that's gone."
