Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FAMILY LAW ACT 1975 - SECT 65Z

             (1)  If proceedings (the Part VII proceedings ) for the making of a parenting order to which this Subdivision applies are pending, a person who is a party to the proceedings, or who is acting on behalf of, or at the request of, a party, must not take or send the child concerned from Australia to a place outside Australia except as mentioned in subsection (2).

Penalty:  Imprisonment for 3 years.

Note:          The ancillary offence provisions of the Criminal Code , including section 11.1 (attempts), apply in relation to the offence created by subsection (1).

             (2)  Subsection (1) does not prohibit taking or sending the child from Australia to a place outside Australia if:

                     (a)  it is done with the consent in writing (authenticated as prescribed) of each other party to the Part VII proceedings; or

                     (b)  it is done in accordance with an order of a court made, under this Part or under a law of a State or Territory, after the institution of the Part VII proceedings.

Note:          A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code ).