Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities and Jerry & Anor

The Family Court of Australia, in the matter of *Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities & Jerry & Anor*, considered an application for the return of a child, H, born in November 2007, to New Zealand. The applicant, the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities, sought an order for the child's return pursuant to the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations 1986 (Cth), commonly known as the Hague Convention. The respondents, Ms Jerry (the paternal grandmother) and Mr Kipa (the father), appeared and consented to the application.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the applicant had established the necessary requirements for a return order under the Hague Convention Regulations. This involved assessing the evidence presented, including affidavits from a New Zealand legal practitioner and the applicant's representative, to satisfy the five criteria mandated by the Regulations for such an order. The court also considered a number of interim orders sought by the applicant pending the child's return.

Justice Kent was satisfied that the applicant had met all the required criteria for a return order based on the material before the court. Crucially, both respondents, appearing by telephone, expressed their consent to the return order and did not raise any grounds of defence. Consequently, the court made the orders sought by the applicant, including the child's return to New Zealand on or before 28 August 2012, and interim injunctions restraining the removal of the child from Australia and any change to the child's usual day-to-day residence pending the return. The respondents were also ordered to pay the expenses associated with the child's return.