VELLERS & VELLERS

In *Vellers & Vellers*, the wife sought urgent ex parte orders from the Federal Circuit Court of Australia to prevent the respondent husband from leaving Australia. The dispute concerned the enforcement of previous orders, with the wife specifically requesting measures to restrict the husband's movement, including his placement on an airport watch list.

The court was required to determine whether to grant urgent injunctive relief to restrain the respondent from leaving the Commonwealth of Australia and to order the surrender of his passports and citizenship documents. The court also had to consider the appropriate mechanism for enforcing such orders, particularly in relation to international travel restrictions.

McClelland DCJ reasoned that the wife had established a sufficient basis for the urgent, ex parte orders sought, given the potential for the respondent to depart Australia and frustrate the court's previous orders. The court applied principles relating to the grant of interlocutory injunctions, requiring the applicant to demonstrate a serious question to be tried and that the balance of convenience favoured the granting of the injunction. The court also considered its power to make orders for the enforcement of its own judgments and to prevent a party from frustrating those judgments.

The court ordered that the respondent be restrained from leaving or attempting to leave the Commonwealth of Australia until further order, with a request to the Australian Federal Police to place him on the Airport Watch List. The respondent was also ordered to deliver up his Country B passport, birth certificate, and Australian citizenship documents, and was restrained from applying for any passports. The wife provided an undertaking as to damages, and the costs of the applicant were reserved.