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Last-ditch efforts are under way to prevent a domestic violence victim and her two young children being sent back to Australia.
The Court of Appeal last week upheld rulings in the Family Court and High Court that the children, now aged 4 and 2, be returned to Australia under the Hague Convention to determine custody issues.
The New Zealand woman, known as Sally, moved to Christchurch in March last year from Queensland to escape repeated domestic violence.
Her lawyer, Alexis Hart, said her client would be disadvantaged in seeking custody in the Australian courts because she had no money and no home. Australia's welfare agency, Centrelink, confirmed that Sally would not qualify for an emergency benefit because she is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
She could end up dependent on her ex-husband who is paying child support and offered in court to lend her a 1989 car and to pay the bond on a rental property.
Ms Hart has asked the Family Court to issue orders allowing the children to remain in New Zealand while the custody issues are determined.
A likely option was to seek a relocation order from the Australian Family Court, allowing the children to live permanently with their mother in New Zealand.
Ms Hart said New Zealand judges in Hague Convention cases wrongly assumed that people sent back to Australia would be supported by its welfare and legal agencies.
"There's a gap. The central authority [for Hague cases] in both countries is supposed to make sure things are on track but they both seem to ignore it."
Last September, Sally told the Family Court that she and the children were at risk from her ex-husband's violence. He had repeatedly breached a protection order issued against him in March 2004.
When she reached New Zealand, she had a "without notice" protection order issued against him here. But the court heard from Queensland police that the level of violence was considered to be low-level.
