Gong and Hing

In the Family Court of Australia, Justice Macmillan presided over proceedings involving the applicant father and the respondent mother concerning their child, B. The dispute centred on arrangements for the child's time with each parent and the need for a professional assessment of issues relating to the child and parents.

The court was required to determine the terms of interim parenting orders and to direct the parties to attend a family consultant for a Children’s and Parents Issues Assessment. The court also needed to consider the scope of the family consultant's access to court documents and subpoenaed materials for the purpose of the assessment.

Justice Macmillan ordered that the parties attend a family consultant on 9 January 2017 for a Children’s and Parents Issues Assessment, with the assessment to be released to the parties upon completion. The family consultant was granted permission to inspect the court file and any documents produced on subpoena, subject to prior party access. Interim parenting orders were made, detailing specific periods of time the child B would spend with the father, including supervised time on certain Sundays and Wednesdays, and unsupervised time on other specified dates. The father was ordered to collect and return the child to the mother's residence for these periods, except for Wednesday visits where collection and return were to be from a childcare centre. All other interim applications were adjourned.