Cain & Veney

In the matter of *MLC 2982 of 2008*, Mr Cain (the applicant father) and Ms Veney (the respondent mother) brought applications before Bennett J concerning parenting orders for their child, X. The proceedings involved an interim defended hearing concerning allegations of family violence and the need to protect the child's relationship with the primary carer.

The court was required to determine whether to suspend face-to-face supervised time between the child and the father pending the final hearing, and to consider alternative communication arrangements. The mother sought to suspend supervised time, while the father sought to maintain it.

Bennett J reasoned that the existing orders for supervised face-to-face time should be suspended due to concerns about family violence and the need to protect the child's relationship with the primary carer. The court ordered that, until further order, the father's supervised face-to-face time with the child be suspended. Instead, the child was to communicate with the father by telephone and/or FaceTime for a maximum of 15 minutes on Mondays and Thursdays each week, with the father initiating the calls. The mother's application in a case filed on 30 April 2021 and the father's response filed on 5 May 2021 were otherwise dismissed. The court also noted that the matter was listed for a case management mention on 28 June 2021 for trial directions and a final hearing was scheduled to commence on 13 December 2021.