Saldo and Tindall (No 2)

In the matter of *Saldo and Tindall (No 2)*, Cleary J of the Family Court of Australia considered an application concerning a child, T, born in 2006. The dispute involved the father's desire to re-establish contact with the child, and the mother's compliance with previous court orders regarding communication.

The central legal issue before the court was to ascertain the child's maturity, intelligence, and her current views and wishes regarding her father and his partner, Ms Y. Specifically, the court needed to determine if the child had enjoyed receiving correspondence and gifts from the father, whether she retained any memory of him or Ms Y, and if she had any interest in meeting or communicating with her father.

Cleary J directed that the child attend an interview with a Senior Family Consultant to provide a report on these matters. The court ordered the mother to facilitate this interview, which was tentatively scheduled for the last week of November 2014. The court also noted that both parties claimed to have complied with previous orders made on 6 September 2012, and that the reasons for those earlier judgments and orders were to be made available to the Senior Family Consultant. The application and response were adjourned for mention on 10 December 2014.