CALLET & BELLANDA

The Family Court of Australia, presided over by Austin J, considered a dispute between Mr Callet (the applicant father) and Ms Bellanda (the respondent mother) concerning parenting orders for their two children. While the parties had reached an agreement on property matters and most parenting arrangements, residual disputes concerned the logistics of child exchange, specifically the times and venues for handover and return, and whether the father should be restrained from consuming alcohol during his time with the children. The separation of the parties had been marked by a violent incident involving the father while intoxicated, leading to an apprehended violence order.

The court was required to determine the specific arrangements for the children's time with the father, including the location and timing of changeovers, and to consider whether to impose orders restraining the father's alcohol consumption. Additionally, the court addressed an application by the Independent Children's Lawyer for costs. The court also had to consider the financial disparity between the parties, with the mother experiencing financial difficulties in travelling for changeovers.

In resolving the dispute over changeovers, the court ordered that the mother deliver the children to a designated meeting point at the commencement of the father's time, and the father deliver the children to a location in the mother's locality at the conclusion of his time. To mitigate the mother's travel costs, the father agreed to provide financial assistance for these changeovers and to refrain from seeking a variation of his child support liability due to these payments. Regarding the alcohol consumption issue, the court noted the father's existing undertaking to the court not to consume alcohol while the children were in his care, and found no need to make further orders replicating this obligation, thus no such orders were made. The court also ordered that the parties contribute equally to the costs of the Independent Children's Lawyer.