Craig and Dobson

[2016] FCCA 1131

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CRAIG & DOBSON [2016] FCCA 1131

Catchwords:
FAMILY LAW – Undefended parenting proceedings – father not complied with orders – family violence – risk issues.

Legislation:

Australian Passports Act2005, s.11

Applicant: MS CRAIG

Respondent: MR DOBSON

File Number: DGC 2205 of 2015

Judgment of: Judge Harland

Hearing date: 10 May 2016

Date of Last Submission: 10 May 2016

Delivered at: Dandenong

Delivered on: 10 May 2016

REPRESENTATION

The Applicant: In person

The Respondent: No appearance

ORDERS

1. The mother have sole parental responsibility for X born (omitted) 2011 (“the child”).

2. The child live with the mother.

3. The child spend no time with the father.

4. The mother is permitted to obtain the child’s passport pursuant to section 11 of the Australian Passports Act 2005 without the father’s consent.

5. The final reasons and orders in this matter be sent to the Legal Aid Commission.

THE COURT NOTES THAT:

(A)Pursuant to ss.65DA(2) and 62B of the Family Law Act 1975, the particulars of the obligations these orders create and the particulars of the consequences that may follow if a person contravenes these orders and details of who can assist parties adjust to and comply with an order are set out in Attachment A and these particulars are included in these orders.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment under the pseudonym Craig & Dobson is approved pursuant to s.121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT DANDENONG

DGC 2205 of 2015

MS CRAIG

Applicant

And

MR DOBSON

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. These reasons for judgment were delivered orally.  They have been corrected from the transcript.  Grammatical errors have been corrected and an attempt has been made to render the orally delivered reasons amenable to being read.

2. This is an application by the mother for parenting orders with respect to X born on (omitted) 2011 (“X”) and is three and a half.  The father has not filed any material in these proceedings.  When the matter first came to Court on 19 September 2015, the father appeared in person and the parties agreed on consent orders which provided for X to spend supervised time with the father, supervised by Mr M, who was a mutual family friend.

3. The father also consented to orders for him to provide drug tests, to attend a men’s behavioural change program and provide a certificate of completion with respect to that program.  The father has not complied with any drug test and has not provided any evidence that he has attended a men’s behavioural change course.  The mother has filed three affidavits and has given some oral evidence today.

4. The father has a very concerning history of family violence, mental health issues and other health issues.  The father has committed family violence in the home and in front of X and the mother’s evidence is that X was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by a psychologist he was seeing and that X has received treatment and now the mother and also X’s kindergarten teachers have strategies to deal with his distress.

5. The mother says that he still gets frightened of loud noises and will say on occasion that, “Dad’s not going to hurt us,” but he is now doing very well and he is thriving at the kinder where he has been for the past couple of years, which is a safe haven for him.  The mother has a lifetime intervention order against the father.  That indicates to me that the Court was satisfied that there were very serious family violence issues before the Court, as it is unusual for the Court to make a long-term order of that nature.

6. The father has since been convicted of contravening the intervention order and is facing further criminal proceedings with respect to the intervention order.  The father has previously spent two periods of time in jail for family violence offences.  The father suffered from a brain injury and that has also caused some difficulties, including personality changes.

7. The matter was last before me on 22 March 2016 when the mother made an oral application for the father’s supervised time to be suspended as a result of Facebook posts which the father’s half-sister sent to her, which were concerning as they indicated that the father was threatening to commit suicide.

8. The mother informs the Court today that the father threatened his half‑sister after he found out that she had given those messages to the mother.  The mother says she has a good relationship with the father’s parents and X spends regular time with them and recently had a sleepover there.  X is receiving the benefit of knowing his paternal family as well as his maternal family.

9. The reports from DHHS confirm the concerns about the father’s violence and indicate that there was an incident in 2015 where he assaulted the mother and his parents in front of X.  In my view, it is in X’s best interests to make final orders today.  The mother is a dual (nationality omitted) and Australian citizen.  It is somewhat surprising that her lawyers have failed to address this in terms of passports in her application.

10. Her lawyers have not appeared today.  The mother made contact with them and, apparently, they had mis-diarised the date.  The mother wished to proceed today rather than having this matter adjourned for her solicitors to attend. 

11. The mother is in receipt of legal aid.  I am going to send a copy of these orders to the Legal Aid Commission.  It is unsatisfactory that lawyers have not attended today when this matter was listed some three months ago.  I am going to, although it is not sought, make an order enabling the mother to obtain a passport for X without the father’s consent, as it may well be when X gets older that she wishes to take X for holidays to (country omitted) where her parents and other family reside.

12. She has Australian and (nationality omitted) passports for X, so this is not an immediate issue and she says that currently she can’t afford to go to (country omitted) and her family are coming here but it is important for children of different cultures to be able to experience those cultures and to be able to visit where his mother grew up and to meet other family members over there.

I certify that the preceding twelve (12) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for judgment of Judge Harland

Date:  12 May 2016