Nixon and Johanson

This matter concerned an application by the mother of a child, X, for orders relating to the child's name and parenting arrangements. The dispute involved the mother and the father of the child, and the case was heard by Judge Scarlett in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The court was required to determine several legal issues, including whether to grant leave for the child's name to be changed and registered with the New South Wales Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and to establish new parenting orders for the child's time with the father. Additionally, the court needed to consider orders to prevent the child's removal from Australia and to place the child's name on the Family Law Watch List. A specific condition regarding the father's involvement in religious ceremonies was also to be addressed.

Judge Scarlett's reasoning was informed by the provisions of the *Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995* (NSW). The court found that it had the power under section 22(3) and section 28(5) of the Act to order the Registrar to register a child's name, even in cases of dispute between parents. The judge was satisfied that changing the child's name was in X's best interests, and considered the dispute over the father's religious practices to be of little substance. The court noted the father's positive engagement with the child during supervised time and his completion of a relevant course, indicating he had reached a stage where unsupervised time could be granted.

The court made detailed orders, including changing the child's name to X for all purposes and directing the Registrar to register this change. Parenting orders were varied to allow for unsupervised time between the child and the father, commencing with shorter periods and progressing to longer periods on alternate weekends. Crucially, the father was restrained from exposing the child to specific religious ceremonies. The court also made orders preventing the removal of the child from Australia and directed that the child's name be placed on the Family Law Watch List until a specified date.