Peters and Ortona

In the matter of *Peters and Ortona*, Justice Macmillan of the Family Court of Australia considered an application by the mother for leave to institute proceedings seeking the reinstatement of specific paragraphs of final orders made on 26 February 2015. The dispute concerned the mother's desire to revive certain aspects of those earlier orders, which had been finalised by Thornton J.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the mother should be granted leave pursuant to s 102QG of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth) to commence proceedings to reinstate parts of the existing final orders. This involved determining if the threshold for such an application had been met, allowing the Court to reconsider previously determined matters.

Justice Macmillan granted the mother leave to institute proceedings for the reinstatement of paragraphs 4(a) and (g) of the final orders. The Court also permitted the mother to rely on paragraph 1 of her Application in a Case filed on 27 January 2016 for this purpose. Directions were made for the filing and service of responses and affidavits by the father and the Independent Children’s Lawyer, with a specific hearing date set for paragraph 1 of the mother’s application. The mother's application filed on 18 December 2016 was otherwise dismissed.