Hayes and Ackerman

This matter concerned parenting orders for a child born in 2013, with the parties being the child's mother and father. The court was required to determine the appropriate arrangements for the child's residence, time spent with each parent, and related welfare and communication provisions.

The court was tasked with establishing a parenting regime that addressed the child's best interests, including considerations of shared parental responsibility, living arrangements, and the father's engagement with counselling and drug testing. Specific issues included the division of school holidays, changeover arrangements, and the provision of information regarding the child's health and education. The court also needed to consider injunctive relief to protect the child from denigration, substance abuse, and family violence.

The court ordered equal shared parenting responsibility for the child, with the child to live with the mother. The father was granted progressively increasing periods of time with the child, commencing with supervised Saturday visits and transitioning to alternate weekend and school holiday time from 2019. The father was also ordered to undertake drug testing prior to spending time with the child and to attend counselling for his drug use, with the Independent Children's Lawyer to be informed of his progress. Injunctions were granted restraining both parents from denigrating the other, consuming illicit substances around the child, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while the child is in their care, allowing the child to be in the presence of intoxicated persons, exposing the child to abuse or family violence, or discussing the family law proceedings with the child. The Independent Children's Lawyer was to be discharged once the father had satisfactorily completed his counselling.