Hamish & Brighton

The appeal before the court involves the parties Hamish and Brighton, who are parents of minor children. The primary dispute revolves around the spend time with orders and an order restraining the appellant from changing the place of residence of the children. The trial judge's decisions were challenged on several grounds, with the primary challenge being the failure to address section 65DAA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and the lack of consideration of the relative proposals of each party.

The court was required to determine whether the trial judge had correctly applied the relevant statutory provisions, specifically section 65DAA(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). This included whether the trial judge had properly weighed the best interests of the children in the context of the statutory provisions and whether there was consideration of the reasonable practicability of the parties' proposals. The court had to consider if the trial judge's findings and orders were within the legal framework and if the trial judge had the power to make the orders given the High Court's decision in MRR v GRR (2010) 240 CLR 461.

The court found merit in the first four grounds of appeal, primarily due to the trial judge's failure to address section 65DAA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and the lack of proper consideration of the parties' proposals. Consequently, the appeal was allowed, and the parenting proceedings were remitted to the Family Court of Western Australia for rehearing by a different judge. The court also noted that the parties agreed that each party should bear their own costs, and appropriate costs certificates were issued for both the appeal and the rehearing.