The Court is obliged to regard the child's best interests as the paramount.  The Court is also given a rebuttable presumption that it is in the child's best interests for their parents to be allocated equally shared responsibility for them. It this case, the presumption does not apply in instances of child abuse or family violence. The presumption can be rebutted if the Court finds that equal responsibility is not in the best interests of the child.

The Perri case is very unusual in that the Court decided to award sole responsibility to the father.  This was despite the Court's findings that "the father certainly committed family violence upon the mother in the past". Both parents were criticised, but the father was found to be not as bad.  The Judge wanted to remove doubt about the parenting situation.

One should be careful about commenting on judgments.The affidavits relied on the parties won't be available. The judge will have been able to make valuable assessments on the veracity of the evidence being given by being physically present when it is given.

Domestic violence campaigner and former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty appeared to refer to this case earlier this week, pushing for comprehensive domestic violence training to be provided to Judges and Magistrates involved Family Court matters.

In response, Chief Justice of the Family Court noted significant financial restraints faced by the Court – essentially the Court believed in the training, but funding. The NSW Law Society has pushed for funding increases for Family and Federal Circuit Courts.

If we want our legal system working its best we need proper funding – something to keep in mind and ask our representatives in an election year.