SALTER & HOUSTON

This case concerned parenting orders for three children, involving allegations of risk of sexual abuse and physical harm. The primary dispute was between the mother and the father regarding the children's living arrangements and the extent of each parent's responsibilities. The court was required to determine the best interests of the children, considering the risks posed by certain individuals in the parents' lives and the children's own expressed wishes and vulnerabilities.

The court was tasked with assessing whether the mother's husband posed an unacceptable risk of sexual abuse to the children, given his history. It also had to consider risks posed by the father's brother and step-father, and whether the father was adequately protective. Furthermore, the court needed to determine the living arrangements for the three children, who were of different ages and had differing preferences, and whether to continue with orders for equal shared parental responsibility or sole parental responsibility. The mother's application to discharge an injunction restraining her from allowing her husband to be present during her time with the younger children was also a key issue.

Ryan J found that while the mother's husband posed an unacceptable risk of sexual abuse to the children, and the father's brother also presented such a risk, the father was protective of the children and there was no risk of abuse by the father himself. The court determined that equal shared responsibility was not in the best interests of the children, particularly the oldest child who had expressed suicidal ideation and had vulnerable mental health. The court ordered that the two younger children remain living with the father, with sole parental responsibility continuing to rest with him. The mother's application to discharge the injunction was refused. The oldest child's living arrangements were not definitively ordered in the mother's favour, with the court noting no impediment to welfare or other agencies intervening. The youngest child was to spend time with the mother until she turned 13, with specific arrangements for contact, and thereafter in accordance with her wishes. The father was permitted to relocate the younger two children to Queensland no earlier than January 2012, with provisions for ongoing contact with the mother.