Welby and Raine

In the matter of Welby and Raine, Cleary J of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia made orders concerning the residence and parental responsibility of a child, X. The dispute involved the parents' arrangements for their child, with the court ultimately determining the child's living arrangements and the extent of each parent's involvement in decision-making and contact.

The court was required to determine the primary residence of the child X, who was born in 2010. Further issues included the allocation of parental responsibility, specifically whether one parent should have sole parental responsibility. The court also had to consider the nature and extent of future communication and time spent between the child and the mother, including the appropriateness of supervised contact and the duration of any restrictions on direct communication.

Cleary J ordered that X shall live with the father from April 2020 and that the father shall have sole parental responsibility for X. The father was directed to inform the mother of X's school enrollment and any specialist medical treatment, serious accident, or medical emergency involving X. The mother was granted the right to obtain copies of specialist medical and school reports at her own expense. Crucially, an injunction was granted pursuant to section 68B of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth) restraining the mother from contacting X for six months. Following this period, X was to spend supervised time with the mother for a minimum of two hours on one weekend day per calendar month for a further six months. Thereafter, any further time spent or communication between X and the mother would be at the father's discretion. The court also ordered that both parents keep each other advised of their residential addresses and contact details and that copies of the orders and a family report be provided to the Department of Communities and Justice NSW. The Independent Children's Lawyer was to explain the orders to X, and the mother was to arrange for Y to attend the ICL to have the orders explained.