Director-General, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services and Wilson

The Director-General, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, as the applicant, brought proceedings concerning the child, B, against the respondent, Ms Wilson. The initial application, filed under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, sought the child's return to New Zealand, his country of habitual residence. This followed the mother and child's departure from New Zealand to Australia without the father's consent. Subsequently, the father, Mr Wilson, filed a new application seeking access orders under the Hague Convention.

The court was required to determine whether to make consent orders for access between the father and the child, as agreed by the parties. Specifically, the court needed to be satisfied that making such orders was "desirable" within the meaning of the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations 1986 (Cth). The legal issues arose from the father's initial Hague Convention application for return, which was discontinued after the parents reached an agreement regarding the child's time with the father, and the subsequent breakdown of that informal arrangement, leading to the current access application.

Justice Kent found that the respondent mother had signed Minutes of Consent detailing the agreed access arrangements and had expressed satisfaction with these orders via email, indicating her inability to attend court. The court was satisfied that the mother was aware that the agreed orders would be made and that her non-appearance was not due to a change of mind but rather an assumption that the court's formalisation of the agreement would be a formality. Consequently, the court was satisfied that it was "desirable" to make the agreed orders.

The court made orders in terms of the signed consent orders, which detailed specific periods of time the child would spend with the father in Australia and New Zealand, including provisions for travel costs and communication. All pending applications were removed from the list.