Pecks and Pecks

This matter concerned parenting orders made by Judge Riley in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The proceedings involved a father and a mother and their child, X, born in 2004. The dispute centred on arrangements for X's residence, time spent with each parent, communication, and travel.

The court was required to determine a range of issues concerning X's welfare and the parental responsibilities of both parties. These included the primary caregiver for X, where X would live, the nature and extent of X's time with his mother, and the conditions under which X could communicate with his mother. Further issues involved the financial responsibility for X's travel costs, restrictions on direct communication between the mother and X, and the mother's access to information about X's schooling. The court also addressed X's passport, his ability to travel internationally, and the father's role in facilitating X's counselling.

In its reasoning, the court made orders reflecting a significant shift in parental responsibility, granting the father sole parental responsibility for X and ordering that X live with his father. The court imposed strict limitations on the mother's direct contact with X, including restraining her from contacting him via email or mobile telephone, and stipulated that any time spent with his mother would be at X's request and instigation. The mother was also restrained from attending X's school or contacting school personnel without the father's written consent. The court further ordered that X's passport be retained by the father, who was authorised to apply for a new passport for X without the mother's consent, and that X be permitted to leave Australia without the mother's permission. The father was directed to encourage and facilitate X attending counselling regarding the violence perpetrated by his mother and their fractured relationship.

The court also made several orders by consent between the parents, including mutual facilitation of communication and the exchange of letters and presents. Certain previous orders, including airport watch list orders, were discharged. Both parents were ordered to notify each other of changes to their mobile numbers and of any emergencies or hospitalisation involving X. Additionally, each parent was restrained from attending the other's home address without prior written agreement and from denigrating or insulting the other parent or their family members in X's presence. Both parents were also restrained from publishing social media posts that breach section 121 of the *Family Law Act 1975*. The mother was ordered to pay the father's costs of the proceeding.