KEATON & SHACKLEY

This matter concerned parenting orders for a child born in 2014, brought before the court by the mother and father. The dispute arose from the father's history of serious offending, including convictions for assaulting the child and the mother, and for manufacturing methamphetamine. A significant incident involved the child's older half-sibling being hospitalised after consuming a hash brownie and psychiatric medication belonging to the father while in his care. The father sought orders for supervised time with the child on a limited basis for identity purposes, along with the ability to send letters, cards, and gifts.

The court was required to determine whether any form of unsupervised or supervised time, or any communication, between the child and the father would be in the child's best interests, and whether the father's proposals posed an unacceptable risk of harm to the child. The court also considered the father's application for limited identity time and communication, and the mother's implied opposition to any contact.

Justice Terry found that the father's past conduct, including his convictions and the incident involving the half-sibling, demonstrated that the child would be at an unacceptable risk of harm if she spent any unsupervised time with him. The court concluded that the father's proposals for supervised identity time and communication, in the specific circumstances of this case, carried inherent risks for both the child and the mother and would not benefit the child. Consequently, the court ordered that the child live with the mother, spend no time with the father, and have no communication with him. The court also issued injunctions restraining the father from approaching the mother or child, attending their residence or the child's educational facility, and from posting negative or public information about the proceedings on social media. Further orders authorised the mother to obtain a passport for the child, travel overseas with the child, and change the child's surname to Keaton-Shackley.