Tindall & Saldo

The case of *Tindall & Saldo* concerned parenting orders regarding a child, T, born in 2006. The father, who was serving a five-year custodial sentence for serious offences, sought to maintain contact with T. The mother, however, wished for T to have no contact with the father, alleging the father had fabricated the incidents for which he was convicted. T had previously enjoyed a positive relationship with the father, but the mother had shielded T from the truth about the father's imprisonment. Previous orders for supervised contact had been made, and prior contravention proceedings had occurred.

The court was required to determine the extent to which the father should be permitted to communicate with T, balancing the father's desire for recognition and reassurance of the paternal relationship against the risk of T being exposed to physical or psychological harm. The court also had to consider the admissibility and weight of expert evidence, particularly concerning the mother's wishes and the father's convictions. The court relied on agreed facts from prior criminal proceedings, where the father had admitted his convictions, to presume the truth of these convictions for the purposes of the hearing, pursuant to s 191 of the *Evidence Act 1995* (Cth). The court also preferred the evidence of a single appointed expert over adversarial psychiatric assessments, finding that the appointed expert's findings were more reliable, especially after the expert reviewed the agreed facts.

Cleary J reasoned that while the father's convictions presented a significant risk, the benefit of T maintaining some connection with her father, given their prior positive relationship, warranted limited communication. The court found that the mother's wish for no contact was a strong indicator of her desire to sever the paternal relationship, which was further supported by expert evidence. The court ultimately ordered that all previous parenting orders be discharged and that the mother have sole parental responsibility for T. The father was permitted to communicate in writing with T three times per year (on T's birthday, Father's Day, and around Christmas/New Year), with such communication being a letter, card, or gift. Strict conditions were imposed on the father's communications, prohibiting any reference to the mother or her family, or to T's living arrangements. The mother was entitled to inspect all correspondence and gifts before they were passed to T, and was to facilitate T's written communication with the father if T expressed a wish to do so. The mother was also ordered not to denigrate the father to T, and the father was similarly prohibited from denigrating the mother in his communications.