Judge Mahony was appointed Principal Family Court Judge in April 1985. In his years as Principal Family Court Judge he has been consulted extensively about new legislation including the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988, the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989, new mental health legislation, child support, domestic violence, relationship property and wardship. The enhanced jurisdiction of the Family Court extending to two international Conventions makes it a model modern unified Family Court.

The Judge attended a major conference at the Police College in 1987 on domestic violence and was subsequently a member of the Family Violence Prevention Co-ordinating Committee involving Government and community agencies. He has attended numerous seminars and has addressed community groups on domestic violence issues. He has also visited Hanoi and Bangkok conferring with Government Ministers, officials and NGOs on domestic violence and child abuse issues resulting in delegations coming to New Zealand from both countries for briefings and seminars funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

During the term of Judge Mahony’s office, the Family Court of New Zealand has established significant international links, particularly with the Family Court of Australia whose Judges came to New Zealand for a joint conference with the New Zealand Family Court Judges in 1999. He has also hosted in Wellington the only offshore meeting of the Family Law Council of Australia.

He has served two terms on the Board of Directors of the American based Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and has given papers at a number of its conferences. The Judge has made several visits to The Hague to attend Special Commissions on Hague Children’s Conventions and participated in settling the 1996 Convention on the Protection of Children which he signed as New Zealand’s representative.

He was part of the teaching faculty of the Hague Secretariat for an international Judicial seminar on the Child Abduction Convention held in the Netherlands. He led a New Zealand delegation invited by the US State Department to participate in its Conference on Hague Convention issues in Washington in 2000.

Along with a representative from Canada and two from Australia, he was a consultant to the Lord Chancellor in a seminar held at Leeds Castle in 1995 directed particularly at British MPs on changes contemplated to British divorce law.

The Judge has been involved in arranging visits from overseas experts to New Zealand for seminars including Dr Joan Kelly from the United States, Dr Peter Jaffe from Canada and most recently Dr Danya Glaser from London, the latter two brought out by the Family Violence Taskforce which was set up by the Judge in 1995. The Taskforce has been responsible for organising conferences and seminars over the intervening years.

Judge Mahony has always highlighted the mediation role of Family Court Judges and has been involved in training from overseas experts including the late John Haynes who had an international practice and Professors Wade and Boulle from Bond University in Australia.

The Judge has fostered links between the Family Court and the legal profession supporting the Section’s Family Law Conferences and meeting regularly with the Executive of the Family Law Section. Among the achievements of this consultation are the Practice Notes issued relating to the appointment, qualifications and standards for counsel appointed by the Court to represent children.

The Judge’s retirement takes effect on 2 May 2004.