Court lets sect kids see dad, but not TV

An excommunicated member of the Exclusive Brethren sect has been ordered by the Family Court not to expose his children to television, radio or non-members of the church in a landmark decision granting him access rights.

Despite finding Exclusive Brethren members and the mother had been "abusive" in denying the father access visits after the Tasmanian couple's 2003 separation, his bid for full custody was denied because it would be too traumatic for the children to be removed from the secretive Christian sect.

The ruling, which took effect yesterday with the children's first visit to the father, followed revelations about the sect's attempts to lobby the Family Court and federal Government to bend legislation so that former members were kept away from their children who remained in the Exclusive Brethren.

In the decision, both parents were banned from discussing or denigrating each other's faith in front of the children, with similar orders put on extended family within the sect who were accused, along with Exclusive Brethren elders, of trying to turn the children away from their father and his "worldly" influences.

Family Court judge Robert Benjamin said the case reflected a "conflict between the principles of church and the laws of government".

Justice Benjamin said it was time for the Exclusive Brethren to give up their fight, through a series of well-funded custody battles over the past 30 years, to stop defecting members getting access to their children.

"It must surely not be beyond your intellect and wit to find a dimension in your beliefs so that they may reconcile with the law of this country and the need for children to know both of their parents," he said.