Mortenson and Parker and Anor

In the Family Court of Australia at Sydney, Mrs Maybury (the applicant maternal grandmother) sought interim and final orders for her granddaughter to spend time with her. The respondent mother and Ms Maybury (the respondent) were the other parties. The dispute concerned the extent of contact between the child, born in 1993, and her maternal grandmother, with the child currently residing in Sydney and the grandmother in Melbourne.

The court was required to determine whether to grant the maternal grandmother's application for interim orders for contact, given the child's current living arrangements and expressed wishes. A key issue was the court's ability to make findings of fact on disputed versions of events, particularly concerning the circumstances under which the child came to live with the respondent and the mother's alleged coercion in agreeing to previous orders. The court also had to consider the child's stated unwillingness to spend time with the grandmother and the lack of a developed recent relationship between them.

Loughnan JR dismissed the maternal grandmother's application, finding that he was unable to make findings of fact on the disputed issues due to inconsistent evidence and the absence of expert reports. He noted that the child had lived with the respondent since 2003 and had minimal recent contact with the grandmother. The court also highlighted that the grandmother's application was inconsistent with her own evidence criticising the respondent, and that the child expressly stated she did not wish to spend time with the grandmother, a wish the court could not ignore for interim purposes. The court indicated that the final hearing would proceed with a less adversarial approach, including the use of a questionnaire and statements from the parties, and requested arrangements for Auslan interpreters to assist the mother.