Senator Brown asked the Minister representing the Attorney-General, upon notice, on 24 June 1998:

With reference to Australia's obligations under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction:

(1) What is the role of the Australian Cental Authority and does it include responding to requests from England and other jurisdictions involving abduction by parents.

(2) Does the authority or the Government not act upon such requests unless there is confirmation that a sum has been secured by the applicant parent equivalent to the cost of airfares for the abducting parent and children to return home; if not, what requirements are made before Australia acts on such requests and since when have these requirements obtained.

(3) Are, for example, such applications transmitted from England's Lord Chancellor's Department to Australia not acted upon where the applicants are impecunious.

(4) Do other countries have such requirements; if so, which countries are they.

(5) Is the present Australian approach in full accord with obligations of the Hague Convention and ultra vires the enabling legislation.

Senator Vanstone (Minister for Justice) —The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) Commonwealth, State and Territory Central Authorities have been designated for Australia pursuant to Article 6 of the Hague Abduction Convention and regulations 5 and 8 of the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations. The duties, powers and functions of the Central Authorities are set out in the Convention and in the Regulations. One of the functions of a Central Authority is to receive from parents in other Convention countries applications for the return of children.

(2) Regulation 13 of the Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Regulations requires the Commonwealth Central Authority to satisfy itself that an application is in accordance with the requirements of the Convention before the Central Authority acts to obtain an order from the Family Court for the return of the child. One of the requirements of the Convention is that the overseas applicant pay the expenses to be incurred in implementing the return of the child (Article 26 of the Convention). Thus where the Family Court is likely to order return of the child in the custody of the abducting parent, the Commonwealth Central Authority requires the overseas applicant to satisfy it that arrangements have been made in relation to the payment of airfares for both the child and the abducting parent. Where the abducting parent is impecunious, this will usually mean that the overseas applicant must put in place satisfactory arrangements to meet the cost of the airfares. This requirement dates from 1994 when an overseas applicant refused to pay an airfare for a child taken into care pending return and the relevant Australian Central Authority was left to meet the cost.

(3) Applications received from applicants in the United Kingdom are dealt with as outlined in answer to question (2) above. Australia has a legal aid scheme of assistance (the Overseas Custody Child Removal Scheme) which pays airfares for impecunious applicants in Australia who seek the return of children from other countries. On a number of occasions the Commonwealth Central Authority has made representations to the English Lord Chancellor's Department about England's failure to adopt such a scheme to assist impecunious English applicants with the payment of airfares. Attempts by the English Lord Chancellor's Department and English solicitors to transfer these costs to Australian taxpayers are unacceptable because the Convention places the liability on the overseas applicant.

(4) Other Convention countries do not require Australian applicants to make arrangements to pay airfares because Australia's legal aid scheme of assistance (the Overseas Custody Child Removal Scheme) pays airfares for impecunious applicants in Australia who seek the return of children from other countries.

(5) The Commonwealth Central Authority's handling of Hague Convention applications is consistent with the Convention and the Regulations.