Department of Child Safety and Pelt

The matter before Murphy J concerned an application by the Department of Child Safety against Ms Pelt regarding a child born in February 1998. The core of the dispute involved the return of the child to New Zealand, with specific conditions and injunctions imposed on Ms Pelt.

The court was required to determine whether the child should be returned to New Zealand and, in doing so, to issue orders facilitating this return. This included setting a date for the child's departure from Australia, restraining the mother from removing the child from the Commonwealth or changing the child's residence, and allocating responsibility for the expenses associated with the child's return.

Murphy J ordered that the child be returned to New Zealand on or before 11 May 2009. To give effect to this, the mother, Ms Pelt, was restrained from removing the child from the Commonwealth or changing the child's residence from their current Queensland address. Ms Pelt was also ordered to pay all necessary expenses for the child's return, including airfares and departure taxes, with a provision for reimbursement to the applicant if she failed to do so. Liberty to apply was granted to the applicant for further orders, and specific previous orders made by Justice Jordan were discharged. All other applications were dismissed.