Mortland and Wheaton (No 2)

In *Mortland and Wheaton (No 2)*, Forrest J of the Federal Court of Australia considered an application by Ms Mortland and Mr Mortland, who sought parental responsibility for a child, L Wheaton, and permission to obtain a passport for the child without the consent of the respondent, Mr Wheaton, the child's biological father. The applicants also sought the ability to take the child from Australia as they saw fit.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the applicants, Ms Mortland and Mr Mortland, should be granted parental responsibility for L Wheaton, and whether their application for a passport for the child should be permitted without the biological father's consent. Furthermore, the court had to determine whether the applicants should be allowed to remove the child from Australia at their discretion.

Forrest J determined that both Ms Mortland and Mr Mortland held parental responsibility for L Wheaton. Consequently, the court ordered that the applicants be permitted to apply to the Australian Government for a passport for L Wheaton without the need for the respondent's consent or signature. The court also granted the applicants permission to take the child from the Commonwealth of Australia as and when they saw fit.