Abbey and Walburn

In the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Judge Scarlett considered an application by Abbey and Walburn. The dispute concerned the location of two children, [X] born in 2011 and [Y] born in 2013.

The court was required to determine whether to grant leave to proceed ex parte, and to make orders for the disclosure of information regarding the children's location. Specifically, the court needed to consider the provisions of the *Family Law Act 1975* relating to obtaining information about a child's whereabouts.

Judge Scarlett granted leave to proceed ex parte, acknowledging the need to locate the children. The court ordered the Chief Executive Officer of Centrelink to provide information about the children's location held within Centrelink records to the Registry Manager of the Federal Circuit Court in Sydney. Furthermore, the court granted leave for this information to be disclosed to the applicant's legal adviser, Ms Claire Cantrall of Legal Aid NSW, for the purpose of arranging service, with the crucial caveat that the information was not to be disclosed to the applicant personally. The application was then stood out of the list with liberty to restore on seven days' notice.