Bruce & Bruce (No 2)

The appeal in Bruce & Bruce (No 2) involved Ms Bruce appealing against the refusal of a stay of parenting orders that had been made by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. These orders had removed the children from the mother and placed them in the father's care. Ms Bruce argued that the primary judge had erred in not granting a stay of the parenting orders pending the outcome of her appeal, asserting that there was new evidence that would likely result in the orders being set aside. The appeal court needed to determine if the primary judge had erred in his decision regarding the stay of the parenting orders.

The court found that several of the grounds of appeal did not have merit. The primary judge had not erred in considering the parenting decision to be correct until set aside on appeal, and had not erred in not placing significant weight on the prospects of success of the appeal. The court also found that the primary judge had not erred in failing to accept the mother's contentions regarding violence and sexual abuse, as the evidence provided was not compelling. The court accepted a group chat message as further evidence but deemed it unlikely to have a significant outcome at the parenting appeal and did not accord it significant weight. The court found that there was a lack of compelling evidence that mandated the return of the children to the mother’s care. Therefore, the primary judge had not erred in his refusal to grant a stay of the parenting orders.

The appeal court dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the primary judge’s refusal of the stay of the parenting orders. The court also accepted the group chat message as further evidence but dismissed the applications to admit other further evidence. The court ordered that any party seeking an order as to costs was to file and serve, within 28 days, written submissions not exceeding five pages setting out the basis for such costs, along with relevant invoices. Any response to those submissions was to be filed and served within 28 days of the date of service and was not to exceed five pages.