HIBBERD & BANNER

The Family Court of Australia heard proceedings between Mr A Hibberd (the applicant father) and Ms Banner (the respondent mother) concerning parenting arrangements for their four-year-old child. Both parties sought orders for the child to live with them and for sole parental responsibility. Each also sought to limit the child's contact with the other parent to occasional supervised visits, with the mother motivated by concerns about potential harm to the child from sexual abuse or family violence by the father, and the father seeking to ensure the child could benefit from their relationship.

The court was required to determine the best interests of the child, specifically with whom the child should live and spend time, and whether the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility applied. Key issues included assessing allegations of alienation, family violence, and sexual abuse, and determining the risk of harm to the child from either parent or their new partners. The court also had to consider the admissibility and probative value of a second Family Report and the impact of past family violence on parental responsibility.

Justice Austin found that the mother was the child's primary attachment figure and had always been the primary carer. While acknowledging past family violence by the father and ongoing high conflict between the parties, the court determined that the mother had not established an unacceptably high risk of sexual abuse by the father, nor an unacceptable risk of harm to the child from either parent or their new partners. Consequently, the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility did not apply, and the mother was granted sole parental responsibility. The child was ordered to live with the mother and spend time with the father, with specific arrangements for contact, including provisions for communication and holiday periods, and prohibitions against denigration. The court also addressed the admissibility of the second Family Report, deeming it admissible but of limited probative value.