Best Interests of the Child in Queensland: The Six Section 60CC Factors

The Standard That Governs Everything

Every parenting order a Queensland court makes — and the parenting arrangements parents negotiate or discuss in mediation — should be guided by the best interests of the child. For court orders, this is the legal standard under Section 60CA of the Family Law Act 1975.

The practical question is always: how does the court assess what is actually in a child's best interests? The answer lies in Section 60CC, which was substantially rewritten by the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (effective 6 May 2024).

What Changed With the 2024 Reforms

The old Section 60CC divided best-interests factors into two tiers: "primary considerations" (the benefit of a meaningful relationship with both parents, and protection from violence and abuse) and "additional considerations" (a longer list including the child's views, practical difficulty of arrangements, the capacity of each parent, and more). This two-tier structure created a hierarchy that sometimes elevated the relationship factor above safety.

The 2024 reforms flattened this hierarchy into a single, non-hierarchical list of six general considerations. No factor automatically outranks another — the court weighs each according to the evidence in the specific case.

Factor 1: Safety

What arrangements promote the safety of the child and each person who has care of the child?

This factor has a dual focus. It assesses risk to the child — exposure to family violence, abuse, neglect, or harm — and also explicitly considers whether a caregiver is safe from violence. The reasoning is straightforward: a parent who is living in fear cannot parent effectively. Protecting the caregiver protects the child.

The court examines any history of family violence or abuse, any existing protection orders (such as Queensland Domestic Violence Orders), any child protection agency involvement, and the current risk of harm.

Safety is listed first in Section 60CC(2) for a reason: the reforms deliberately positioned the protection of children and caregivers from violence as the starting point for any parenting assessment.

Factor 2: The Child's Views

What views has the child expressed, and how much weight should those views carry?

The weight given to a child's views depends on three things: their age, their maturity and understanding, and whether the views are genuinely the child's own. A court will always investigate whether a child's stated preferences have been coached or influenced by a parent — and if they have, the views carry little weight and the influencing parent's credibility is damaged.

Children are generally not asked to "choose" between parents in open court. Their views are typically gathered through a family report assessment or through an Independent Children's Lawyer (ICL) appointed to represent the child's interests. There is no specific age at which a child's wishes become determinative.

Factor 3: Developmental, Psychological, Emotional, and Cultural Needs

What does this particular child need for healthy development?

This factor examines the child's stability, routine, attachment patterns, mental health, educational needs, and any specialised medical or therapeutic requirements. It also addresses the child's cultural identity and the importance of maintaining connections to their cultural community.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, Section 60CC(3) adds a standalone mandatory consideration: the court must specifically assess the child's right to enjoy and connect with their culture, country, and community, including relationships with extended kinship networks, participation in ceremonies, and language preservation.

Factor 4: Capacity of Each Caregiver

Can each parent actually provide for the child's needs?

This is assessed through concrete evidence, not promises. The court looks at each parent's track record of practical involvement: who manages medical appointments, who arranges schooling, who supervises homework, who coordinates extracurricular activities, who handles bedtime routines. A parent who claims to want equal time but has historically delegated all day-to-day care to the other parent faces a credibility gap.

The court also considers each parent's physical and mental health, their housing situation, their work schedule, and their support network (grandparents, extended family, partners).

Factor 5: Relationships

What benefit does the child gain from maintaining meaningful relationships with both parents, siblings, grandparents, and other significant people?

This factor recognises that children thrive when they have strong, stable relationships across their family network. But it comes with an essential qualifier: the benefit of maintaining a relationship is only weighed positively where it is safe to do so. If maintaining contact with a parent exposes the child to violence or harm, the relationship factor does not override the safety factor.

Factor 6: Other Relevant Circumstances

Is there anything else the court should consider?

This catch-all allows the court to weigh factors that do not fit neatly into the other five categories. Common examples include:

• Extreme geographic distance between the parents' homes (a parent in Cairns and a parent in the Gold Coast creates practical challenges for weekly shared care)
• Sibling arrangements (keeping siblings together is generally preferred unless there are compelling reasons to separate them)
• A parent's plans to relocate interstate or overseas
• The attitude of each parent toward facilitating the child's relationship with the other parent

How to Use These Factors in Your Parenting Plan

Whether you are negotiating a parenting plan, preparing for mediation, or filing for consent orders, structuring your proposed arrangements around the six Section 60CC factors strengthens your position. Each clause in your plan — from the care schedule to the decision-making provisions to the changeover protocols — should be defensible against these six criteria.

The Queensland Child Custody and Parenting Plan Guide includes a best-interests self-assessment worksheet that walks you through each factor, helping you build parenting arrangements that are child-focused and legally sound under the current framework.

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