MACKENZIE & GALE (No.2)

In the matter of *Mackenzie & Gale (No.2)*, Judge Scarlett of the Family Court of Australia considered a dispute concerning contraventions of existing parenting orders. The applicant father sought orders compensating him for time lost with the child, X, due to the respondent mother's contraventions.

The central legal issues before the court were whether contraventions of parenting orders had been established and, if so, what orders should be made to compensate the applicant for the time he did not spend with the child as a result of those contraventions. The court was also required to determine an application for costs.

Judge Scarlett found that contraventions of the parenting orders had been established. In making a further parenting order to compensate the father for the lost time, the court ordered that the mother provide the father with a total of eight nights of time with the child, either as individual nights or in blocks of two, commencing on or after 19 February 2016. A condition of this order was that the father be restrained by injunction from consuming alcohol while the child was in his care. The court also ordered the mother to pay the father's costs of the contravention application in the sum of $4,135.50, to be paid within four months of the date of the order.