Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales in Court Session CITATION : Director-General, Department of Education and Training v New South Wales Teachers' Federation [2000] NSWIRComm 103 APPLICANT Director-General, Department of Education and Training PARTIES : RESPONDENT New South Wales Teachers' Federation FILE NUMBER: IRC785 of 2000 CORAM: Marks J CATCHWORDS : Dismissal of proceedings LEGISLATION CITED : Industrial Relations Act 1996 s 139 HEARING DATES: 06/14/2000 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 06/20/2000 APPLICANT Mr P Menzies QC and Mr S B Benson of Counsel SOLICITORS Crown Solicitor LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: RESPONDENT Mr S Crawshaw SC SOLICITORS McMahon Associates LABOR COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES - INTERVENING: Mr Lennon JUDGMENT: INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN COURT SESSION CORAM: MARKS J 20 June 2000 Matter No IRC2000/785 DIRECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING v NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS' FEDERATION Application pursuant to s139 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 JUDGMENT RE PENALTY 1 These proceedings arose out of an application brought by the Director General of the Department of Education and Training under s 139 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 ("the Act"). That application sought the imposition of a monetary penalty against the respondent the New South Wales Teachers' Federation arising out of an alleged contravention of dispute orders made by Deputy President Sams of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales on 28 February 2000. In a judgment published on 13 March 2000 I found that the respondent had contravened the dispute orders and the proceedings were stood over inter alia to allow consideration to be given to the imposition of any penalty sought by the applicant, the maximum amount which can be fixed under the Act being arguably $10,000. 2 The respondent, the New South Wales Teachers' Federation instituted an appeal from my judgment which has not yet been determined. 3 The matter was further mentioned on 6 April and 30 May 2000 in connection with a hearing for the assessment of penalty. On 14 June 2000 Mr Crawshaw SC who appeared for the respondent asked that the proceedings be dismissed under s 139(3)(a) of the Act which empowers this Court to dismiss the matter "if it finds that the dispute order was not contravened or if it finds that the circumstances were such that the Commission should take no action on the contravention." 4 The circumstances relied upon by Mr Crawshaw were as follows: 1. The underlying dispute which led to the contravention of the dispute orders had been resolved. 2. The respondent accepted the judgment of this Court and undertook to withdraw the appeal. 3. The respondent was sorry that circumstances had arisen which led to its contravention of the dispute orders and stated that it believes in and upholds the integrity of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. 5 These submissions were supported by Mr Lennon who had been granted leave to intervene on behalf of the Labor Council of New South Wales. 6 Mr Menzies QC who appeared for the applicant submitted that the appropriate course in all the circumstances was that the Director General of the Department of Education and Training should not press for any penalty to be imposed. 7 In the course of my judgment of 13 March 2000 I accepted the submissions of Mr Crawshaw that the proceedings were analogous to proceedings for civil contempt. The purpose of such proceedings is firstly to punish disobedience of an order of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales and secondly to vindicate the authority of the Commission which is an integral and essential component of the industrial relations system in the State of New South Wales. 8 In my judgment I concluded that "the respondent simply did not intend at any stage to comply with the dispute orders." Accordingly, it may be assumed that the respondent had wilfully disobeyed the dispute orders issued by Deputy President Sams. Prima facie, therefore, the contravention was a serious one. 9 Notwithstanding the serious nature of the contravention I am, however, persuaded to accede to the application made by Mr Crawshaw for two principal reasons. The first and, in my view, the most significant is the apology made by the respondent, the New South Wales Teachers' Federation and its declaration of belief in and willingness to uphold the integrity of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. Such a public acknowledgment and declaration should ensure that the New South Wales Teachers' Federation will not engage in any activity or conduct of any kind in the future which will lead it to contravene any orders of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. 10 The second matter is the fact that the applicant Director General of the Department of Education and Training has supported the dismissal of the proceedings without the imposition of any penalty. 11 For the above reasons, I will not proceed to impose any penalty on the respondent, the New South Wales Teachers' Federation notwithstanding a finding that the dispute orders of Deputy President Sams had been contravened in the manner indicated in my earlier judgment. Any further proceedings in this matter are dismissed accordingly. __________________ DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. 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