NSW has approximately 1200 Notary Publics, VIC has about 180 Notary Publics. Despite NSW having vastly more Notary Publics there are still some places in NSW that have no Notary Publics in town.

Having so many notaries in NSW means that many Notary Publics in NSW see only one or two clients requiring notary work per year. Other notaries in NSW will see ten a week and so become very good at their craft. To become a notary you must be practicing law for more than 5 years and pass an exam. There are no further learning requirements to stay a notary.

Lawyers who have been practicising law for more than five years generally have a well running legal practice and have existing client requirements which means they are not often available for notary work.

Despite notary work being fairly expensive the lawyer can make far more money running their court cases. Court cases often involve huge amounts of dedicated time so a notary must make a conscious choice to make time to do enough notary work to be a good notary.