Pender and Read

This matter concerned an application for parenting orders regarding the child [X], born in 2013. The proceedings were before Judge Harland. The dispute involved the mother's application to relocate with the child to Town B, Queensland, and the father's opposition to this relocation, alongside applications for orders concerning the child's living arrangements and time spent with each parent.

The court was required to determine the best interests of the child in relation to the proposed relocation and the specific parenting arrangements. Key issues included whether the relocation was in the child's best interests, the allocation of parental responsibility, the child's primary residence, and the quantum and nature of the time each parent would spend with the child, including travel arrangements and communication protocols. The court also had to consider orders preventing disparagement of a parent and addressing the child's participation in cultural practices.

Judge Harland made orders for equal shared parental responsibility, with the child to live with the mother. Crucially, the court permitted the child to relocate to Town B, Queensland. The father was granted specific periods of time with the child during school holidays and other agreed times, with detailed provisions for travel costs and arrangements, including the mother's responsibility for flights to Melbourne and the father's responsibility for travel from Melbourne to Town A when the child was with him. The court also made orders for regular communication between the child and each parent, and stipulated that neither parent was to criticise the other in the child's presence. Provisions were also made for the child's participation in "sorry business".