Fallon and Bashandi

In the matter of *Fallon and Bashandi*, heard before Bennett J, the dispute concerned an application by the wife for sole authority to apply for and complete the application for a new Australian passport for the child, Z. The parties had previously made orders on 1 July 2014, and this hearing involved a variation of those orders.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether to vary the existing orders to grant the wife sole authority to obtain a new passport for the child. This required the court to consider dispensing with the husband's consent for the passport issuance, particularly given the wife and child were overseas in Egypt and the passport application would need to be made while they remained abroad.

Bennett J ordered that the matter be adjourned for mention on 9 September 2014. Crucially, by consent of the parties, paragraph 4 of the previous order was varied to grant the wife sole authority to apply for and complete the passport application for the child. The husband's consent was dispensed with due to the practical difficulties of the wife and child remaining overseas. The court also directed that the mother appear at the mention by audio-visual link.