Dunne v P

[2004] WASCA 239

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Inconsistency of laws
3. › Section 109 of the Constitution
4. › Inconsistency between State bail conditions and Commonwealth family law contact orders
5. › Whether protective bail condition under Bail Act 1982 (WA) inconsistent with contact order under Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
6. › Whether Part VII of Family Law Act evinces intention to cover the field to exclusion of State criminal law
7. › Presumption that federal jurisdiction exercised within confines of State criminal law
8. › Constitution, s 109
9. › Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), ss 64B, 65D, 68S
10. › Bail Act 1982 (WA), ss 13(1), 17(1), 51(2a), Sch 1 Pt D
1. Family Law
2. › Children
3. › Contact orders
4. › Interaction between contact orders and restraining orders
5. › Whether contact order authorised respondent to initiate telephone contact with wife
6. › Scope of contact order requiring wife to initiate telephone contact
7. › Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), ss 64B(2), 65D, 65N, 68S, 69J
1. Criminal Law
2. › Restraining orders
3. › Misconduct restraining order
4. › Exception for conduct authorised by Family Law order
5. › Whether telephone contact initiated by respondent fell within exception
6. › Restraining Orders Act 1997 (WA), ss 61(2), 62, 65

Quick Take

A contact order under the Family Law Act requiring one parent to initiate telephone contact does not authorise the other parent to initiate contact; accordingly, such conduct is not excepted from a misconduct restraining order. Protective bail conditions under the Bail Act 1982 (WA) are not rendered invalid by s 109 of the Constitution merely because they restrict contact that a Family Law Act contact order contemplates, because Part VII of the Family Law Act evinces an intention that its operation be subject to the general criminal law of the State, including bail legislation. The Bail Act is not a prescribed law for the purposes of the 'family violence order' definition in s 60D of the Family Law Act, so s 68S does not apply to bail conditions.