Paige & Tzu
[2023] FedCFamC1F 144
FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
(DIVISION 1)
Paige & Tzu [2023] FedCFamC1F 144
File number(s): MLC 9235 of 2022 Judgment of: CHRISTIE J Date of judgment: 10 March 2023 Catchwords: FAMILY LAW – AIRPORT WATCHLIST ORDER – Where final parenting consent orders were made – Where the wife subsequently removed the child from the Commonwealth of Australia contrary to those orders – Where the father filed a Hague Application – Where the child was subsequently returned to Australia – Where the father now seeks an Airport Watchlist Order. Legislation: Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 (Cth) s 67
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
Division: Division 1 First Instance Number of paragraphs: 9 Date of hearing: 10 March 2023 Place: Sydney Counsel for the Applicant: Ms Bastick Solicitor for the Applicant: Cahill & Rowe Family Law The First Respondent: No appearance Counsel for the Second and Third Respondents: Ms Mallet KC Solicitor for the Second and Third Respondents: Coulter Legal ORDERS
MLC 9235 of 2022 FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 1)
BETWEEN: MR PAIGE
Applicant
AND: MS TZU
First Respondent
MR B PAIGE
Second Respondent
MS C PAIGE
Third Respondent
order made by:
CHRISTIE J
DATE OF ORDER:
10 MARCH 2023
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1.Ms Tzu born 1986 and her servants and agents are restrained from removing or attempting to remove or causing or permitting the removal of X born 2018 from the Commonwealth of Australia.
2.X born 2018 is restrained from leaving the Commonwealth of Australia.
3.It is requested that the Australian Federal Police give effect to the preceding order by placing the name of the said child X born 2018 on the Airport Watch List in force at all points of arrival and departure in the Commonwealth of Australia and maintain the childs’ name on the Watch List for a period of two years.
4.The suppression of the details of this application is lifted.
5.The costs of and incidental to this application are reserved.
6.The matter is listed for directions at 10.00 am on 17 March 2023.
Note: The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.
Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).
Section 121 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.
IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under a pseudonym has been approved pursuant to s 121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
EX-TEMPORE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
CHRISTIE J:
These are parenting proceedings in respect of the child X born on 2018. The application came before the Court as an application for return of a child pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for a child wrongfully removed or retained from Australia.
Consistent with s 67 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 (Cth) I am treating this application as being an application for parenting orders in respect of the child X.
The applicant is the father, Mr Paige. Also a party to the proceedings are the child’s paternal grandparents.
The mother is not before me today and these proceedings are being conducted on an ex parte basis as regards the mother, though I note that the solicitor previously on record for the mother has attended as a courtesy to the Court.
There were proceedings before the Court which resulted in the making of final consent orders on 17 February 2023 (as amended on 21 February 2023). Orders 43 to 48 of those orders provide:
Interstate and Overseas Travel
43.THAT [X] be removed from the Airport Watchlist.
44.The Mother and Father be and are hereby restrained by injunction from taking the child on a holiday to an overseas country that is not signatory to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction save as otherwise agreed between the Mother and Father in writing and failing such consent the proposed travel will not occur save by further order of the Court.
45.In the event that the Mother or Father seek to take [X] on an interstate or an overseas country that is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction the following shall apply:
45.1 the parent so wishing to take [X] shall:-
a)notify the other parent in writing of the intended travel no later than 60 days prior to the planned overseas travel date and 14 days prior to the planned interstate travel;
b)provide to the other parent all necessary details relating to the proposed trip including, but not limited to, the flight details, accommodation details, contact details and Itinerary (if applicable);
c)endeavour to arrange the proposed trip during a period where [X] is otherwise in their care; and
d)provide the other parent with make-up time in the event that the other parent misses out on time with [X] as a result of the holiday;
45.2unless otherwise agreed in writing, the holiday shall not exceed three consecutive weeks;
46.THAT within 7 days of the Orders being made, the Mother deliver to the Father’s solicitor [X]’s Australian Passport, and any and all [Country E] travel documents.
47.The Father shall hold [X’s] Australian Passports, and any and all [Country E] travel documents, whenever it is not in use and release it to the Mother at least 30 days prior to any overseas travel planned by the Mother in accordance with Order 45 herein.
48.THAT both parents sign all such documents and do all such things to renew [X]’s Australian Passport at the Mother and Father’s joint expense.
(As per the original)
The orders dealt in large part with interstate and overseas travel. Subsequent to the making of those orders, the affidavit material before me suggests that the mother indicated an intention not to comply with that aspect of the orders which required her to surrender the passport of the child.
When correspondence was being engaged in as between the lawyers on behalf of the parties about return of the passport, it transpired that the mother had removed the child from Australia and the child was in Country D. This came to the father’s attention when the child did not attend at kindergarten. An application was therefore made to the Court. I am informed today by counsel who appears that the child has returned to Australia. Notwithstanding the return of the child to Australia, the applicant’s seek an Airport Watchlist order which would be inconsistent with the existing final orders. In support of the making of that order, I was taken to the evidence which is before me, about how it was that, in the time immediately after the making of final orders, the mother has acted contrary to the terms of those orders. I was also taken in the affidavit material, to some of the history of the matter, including periods of absence of the mother from the child’s life. The father was concerned, and remains concerned, that the mother may have an intention to remove the child from the Commonwealth of Australia and take the child to Country E.
In circumstances where the mother has not complied with the recent orders, there would appear to be sufficient risk as would warrant revisiting those final orders and making the Airport Watchlist order that is sought by the father and supported by the parental grandparents.
Accordingly, I will make that order. If there is any prejudice to the mother in the making of that order, she is free to participate in the matter when the matter is returned to the court. We will give it the first available opportunity, in circumstances where this matter has been dealt with on an ex parte basis.
I certify that the preceding nine (9) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the ex tempore Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Christie. Associate:
Dated: 10 March 2023
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