Facts: The client was of Indian heritage. He immigrated to Australia in 2008, went back to India in 2010 to marry, then returned to Australia with his wife and was sponsoring her permanent residency application in Australia. They were living in Adelaide.
Unfortunately the relationship broke down and he separated from his wife in March 2012. Following the separation he withdrew his sponsorship for her permanent residency application.
His ex-wife, who was by now living in Victoria, listed a Victorian application for a family violence intervention order. This was a curious thing to do as his ex-wife was claiming that the family violence occurred in Adelaide, not in Victoria.
Clearly her purpose was to get an intervention order by claiming domestic violence had occurred in the marriage, which would then give the applicant an easy application for permanent residency in Australia. The applicant was assuming that the client would not turn up in Victoria.
The allegations upset the client very much and he instructed our firm to fight the application. Following extensive preparation and lengthy cross examination of the applicant it became clear to the Magistrate that the application was less about any domestic violence that had occurred but more about the applicant becoming a permanent resident in Australia.
Results: His Honour struck out the application.
