good morning, my wife and i are english ( permanent residents)

Hello Russell, The arrangements for the children shown in the (discontinued) divorce application are only to provide the court with information that adequate arrangements have been made for the children of the marriage. This information is required before the Court could grant a divorce as the Court must be satisfied that adequate arrangements for the children of the marriage have been made. It is not an agreement between you as to arrangements which from what you are saying is a verbal agreement only. Accordingly your wife has sole residency of the children because you allowed/agreed to this. As a parent and there being no orders from a court in place then both parents have joint parental responsibility for the children of the marriage, this is not the same as where the children are to reside or with whom. If you wish to have shared parenting of the children then you will need to file an application with the Family Court or Federal Magistrates Court to obtain such an order. The difficulty you will have is that you have allowed/agreed to your wife taking the children to the UK and so a relocation order is going to be problematic. You should see a specialist family law solicitor as soon as possible as the longer the status quo remains the more difficult it will be to obtain the order you require.