Wheatley & Campbell

In the matter of *Wheatley & Campbell*, heard by Terry J, the applicants, Mr and Ms Wheatley (the paternal grandparents), sought orders concerning their grandchild, X, born in 2013. The respondents were Ms Campbell (the mother) and Mr B Wheatley (the father). The dispute centred on the living arrangements and time spent with the child, as well as parental responsibility and drug testing protocols.

The court was required to determine the primary residence of the child, the allocation of parental responsibility, the specific arrangements for the child to spend time with both the mother and the father, and the conditions under which such time would occur. Key issues included the necessity and nature of supervised contact, the implementation of drug testing for the parents, and the prevention of denigration of parties to the child. The court also addressed the division of property arising from the sale of a property.

Justice Terry ordered that the child, X, would live with her paternal grandparents, Mr and Ms Wheatley, who were granted sole parental responsibility. The orders detailed a phased approach to the child spending time with the mother, commencing with supervised contact and progressing to unsupervised weekend time. Similarly, the father was to have supervised time initially, transitioning to unsupervised Saturday contact. Stringent conditions were imposed, including mandatory hair and urine drug testing for both parents, with suspension of contact for positive results or integrity issues. Injunctions were granted restraining the mother from leaving the child with specific relatives and restraining both parents from using illicit drugs within 24 hours of spending time with the child. Furthermore, all parties were enjoined from denigrating each other in the child's presence. Property orders directed the distribution of funds from a property sale, with each party declared the owner of other assets in their possession.