An injunction is a specific court order that prevents parties from performing an act or requires them to perform an act. A failure to obey an injunction is normally a criminal act and the party may have to pay a fine or face imprisonment.
The Family Law Act 1975 (FLA) devotes two section to the Court’s power to hand out injunctions. The first being s. 68B of the FLA. The court is given the power to issue an injunction with regard to children. S.114 of the FLA gives the court powers to issue injunctions in situations which are related to the matrimonial relationship and children’s issues may be considered too (if the child’s parents were married).
There are specific kinds of injunctions, related to the child’s personal protection or the parent of a child or in relation to the occupying of the matrimonial home. The courts have greatly increased powers when dealing with the welfare of children since the introduction of Part VIIAA.
For children and family violence issues you can get a range of injunctions including to:
The principle of the best interest
There is conflicting authority from the Full Court as to the issue of whether the best interests of the child is the paramount consideration in an application for an injunction under s. 68B98. There have been a number of decisions related to injunctions that have not necessarily put the best interests of the child first.
If the parties are married, Sections 68B and 114 can be used to impose an order on a person, normally a parent, to stop them from relocating a child or children out of a specific geographical region, like a city.