Northern Territory Central Authority and Gambini

The Northern Territory Central Authority applied to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory for the return of a child to Italy, pursuant to the *Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction*. The application was opposed by the child's mother.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the child had been wrongfully removed from Italy, the child's habitual residence, and if so, whether any of the exceptions to return under the *Hague Convention* applied. Specifically, the Court considered whether the child had attained an age and degree of maturity at which it would be inappropriate to order their return, and whether the mother had consented to or subsequently acquiesced in the child's retention in the Northern Territory.

Burr J found that the child, born in November 1998, had reached an age and degree of maturity where it would be inappropriate to order their return to Italy. The Court also found that the mother had not consented to the child's retention in the Northern Territory and had not subsequently acquiesced in it. However, the primary reason for dismissing the application was the child's maturity.

Consequently, the Court discharged all previous orders, dismissed the Central Authority's application for the child's return to Italy, and dismissed specific aspects of the mother's cross-application.