Bellini & Machaut
[2024] FedCFamC1F 897
•19 December 2024
FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
(DIVISION 1)
Bellini & Machaut [2024] FedCFamC1F 897
File number(s): MLC 346 of 2014 Judgment of: BENNETT J Date of judgment: 19 December 2024 Catchwords: FAMILY LAW – CHILDREN – urgent application by consent to vary previous final parenting orders from 2017 to allow the child to travel overseas – where previous watch list order discharged but child remained on watchlist – where compliance with the Rules dispensed with – previous order restricting overseas travel discharged. Division: Division 1 First Instance Number of paragraphs: 10 Date of hearing: 19 December 2024 Place: Melbourne Counsel for the Applicant: Litigant in Person Counsel for the Respondent: Litigant in Person ORDERS
MLC 346 of 2014 FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 1)
BETWEEN: MR MACHAUT
Applicant
AND: MS BELLINI
Respondent
ORDER MADE BY:
BENNETT J
DATE OF ORDER:
19 DECEMBER 2024
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1.I relieve the parties from compliance with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (“the Rules”) in relation to the form of the application before me today, the obligation of the mother to have an address for service in Australia, the filing of any affidavit or response by the mother and any other requirement of the Rules with the effect that there is no impediment to me dealing with this matter today.
2.The mother’s address for service be recorded by the Court as follows:
Residential address: H Street SUBURB J COUNTRY D
Contact Number: …
Email address: …@...
3.Paragraph 22 of the Order made on 17 August 2017, which prohibits either parent from removing or attempting to remove the child, B born 2010 (“the child”or “B”), from the Commonwealth Australia until further order, be and is hereby discharged.
4.For the avoidance of doubt, any Watch List Order made in regard to B born 2010 be and is hereby discharged from this day and the child be removed from the Watch List.
5.There be liberty for the parents to apply on short notice in relation to parenting orders and to initiate the process of doing so by contacting my Chambers (email …@...) .
6.My reasons for decision be transcribed and placed on the Court file.
7.The preparation of this Order be expedited so it is available today and my associate send a sealed copy to the Proper Officer of the Australian Federal Police. In case the parents cannot obtain a copy of the Order, I direct my Chambers to provide a sealed copy to each parent by email as soon as possible.
8.Otherwise all extant applications be dismissed and the matter be removed from the list of cases awaiting determination in the docket of the Honourable Justice Bennett.
Note: The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.
Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).
Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish an account of proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.
IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under a pseudonym has been approved pursuant to subsection 114Q(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
Ex-temporeBENNETT J
On 17 August 2017 I made orders in relation to B born 2010 who was then seven years old. The orders included that the father have sole parental responsibility and a restraint against the mother and father removing or attempting to remove B from the Commonwealth of Australia until further order. There was no ancillary or other order which is commonly referred to as a watchlist order. I also ordered that the parties have liberty to apply on short notice for assistance in relation to this matter by contacting my associate. In the last 48 hours initiated that process because the parents have agreed that B can spend the holiday season with her mother in City K, Country D but have been advised by the Australian Federal Police that B is on the watchlist and will be stopped from exiting Australia.
Overnight the father filed an application in a pending proceeding. It has been transferred from Division 2 to Division 1. The father appears by audiovisual link, as does the mother, Ms Bellini. Ms Bellini remains a resident of City K in Country D. B is now 14 years old.
Apparently, there was a watchlist order which predated my final orders of 2017 and the Australian Federal Police have not acted on the first order from my 2017 Orders that:
1.All previous parenting orders be discharged.
I suspect that the parties or their previous lawyers omitted to notify the Australian Federal Police of the final order in 2017. The parents have both stated that the do not want or need a watch order to be in place. Neither parent seeks those complementary orders be enforceable in Country D.
There are a number of procedural irregularities with the proceeding. The father has used the wrong application form and the mother does not have an address for service in Australia or at all. The identity of the parents is not an issue because I remember them.
The core principles applicable to family law proceedings are that proceedings be conducted so as to:
·reduce unnecessary cost and delay in family litigation and facilitate proceedings being conducted with the least possible acrimony in order to minimise harm to children and families;
·ensure the safety of families and children; and
·achieve the overarching purpose of the family law practice and procedure provisions of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 (Cth) (FCFCOA Act), being to facilitate the just resolution of disputes according to law and as quickly, inexpensively and efficiently as possible.
I have power to dispense with compliance with the Rules and I will do so to the extent necessary to have the matter proceed today.
The parents have agreed that B will spend, Christmas with her mother this year and the mother will purchase her ticket as soon as possible. The parents agree that B will return in early 2025 which is in time to start the new school year in Australia.
The parties clearly have a high level of trust of each other. It is agreed that B will continue to reside in Australia but will holiday with her mother this Christmas and travel with the father overseas in the first half of 2025.
I will now discharge any watchlist order that pertains to B so as to remove all doubt. My Associate will send a sealed copy order to each parent and the Australian Federal Police this afternoon. I make orders in the above terms.
I certify that the preceding ten (10) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the ex tempore Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Bennett. Associate:
Dated: 19 December 2024
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