Grant and Aiden (No 3)

In the matter of Grant and Aiden (No 3), Cronin J of the Family Court of Australia considered applications by the father, Mr Grant, and the mother, Ms Aiden. The dispute concerned parenting arrangements for the child, V, and involved a contravention application by the father and applications by the mother that were subsequently struck out.

The court was required to determine several legal issues, including whether to adjourn the father's contravention application and other extant substantive applications, and whether to strike out the mother's applications for want of prosecution. Crucially, the court also had to consider the best interests of the child, V, in light of a Family Violence Order made by the Magistrates’ Court of Queensland and the need for a family consultant's assessment. The court also had to address the potential inconsistency between its orders and the existing Family Violence Order, and the separate representation of the child.

Cronin J reasoned that the mother's applications should be struck out for want of prosecution. The court then varied a previous order to facilitate the child's attendance upon a family consultant in Brisbane, requiring the mother not to hinder this process. The court ordered that specific documents be provided to the Brisbane Registry for the family consultant's report, which was to address whether compensatory time with the father was in V's best interests. The court also ordered that V be separately represented by an Independent Children’s Lawyer, requesting Victoria Legal Aid to arrange this. The court further made a recovery order, inconsistent with the temporary protection order, to enable the family consultant's assessment, explaining that this was due to the mother's refusal to return the child to Melbourne, non-compliance with a parenting order, and failure to deliver the child for assessment.

The court adjourned the father's contravention application and all other substantive applications to 29 April 2016. The mother was ordered to attend court on that date, with leave for the father to seek a warrant of apprehension for her arrest should she fail to do so. Copies of the court's order were to be provided to the Registrar of the Magistrates’ Court at Brisbane, the Chief Commissioner of the Queensland Police Force, and the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services.