REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
1 The applicants today seek an interlocutory injunction which, in effect, would further extend the existing already extended injunctions made in United Group Resources Pty Ltd ABN 17 114 888 201 v Calabro [2010] FCA 22 and United Group Resources Pty Ltd ABN 17 114 888 201 v Calabro (No 2) [2010] FCA 71 until the trial of this action. It seems clear that the trial, as to liability, if any, and penalty, if any, can proceed in the relatively near future, probably in the second half of April.
2 Ample notice of today's hearing has been given both formally and informally to the respondents and to the unions who represent the respondents. No appearances for the respondents have been received and no request to be heard has been received by the unions or any other parties on behalf of the respondents.
3 The previous orders made on 27 January 2010 and 5 February 2010 for injunctive relief, like any injunctive orders, were not lightly made, especially as they impact upon the daily life of the respondents and carry significant consequences if breached.
4 Since making the orders of 5 February 2010 extending the injunction, substantial additional material has been filed on behalf of the applicants. In excess of 25 affidavits have been filed. I do not propose to discuss the content of those affidavits in great detail. They flesh out the matters to which reference had been made in the previous hearings, but in respect of which the evidence, at that point, was, at least in a formal sense, somewhat lacking.
5 The body of material which has been filed supports a number of conclusions, including the conclusion that, since the respondents have been served with the injunctive orders, they have complied with those orders. This may be in recognition of the serious consequences of breaching orders for injunctions; it may also be due to a respect for the rule of law, or perhaps both.
6 But it must also be noted that the compliance has continued while ongoing discussions have ensued, particularly between the unions, Foster Wheeler Worley, and with and at the instigation of Fair Work Australia.
7 The affidavit material also supports an inference of a real risk of industrial unrest of significant consequence to all the parties to this proceeding, as well as third parties, if either of these events were to cease; that is both the observance by the respondents of their lawful employment obligations and the continuation of negotiation and mediation to attempt to resolve disputes.
8 It is unnecessary to repeat the reasons I have published in relation to the extension of the injunction on the last occasion in United Group Resources Pty Ltd ABN 17 114 888 201 v Calabro (No 2) [2010] FCA 71. Those reasons, as I say, are now supported by the additional material to which I have referred. In addition, there is the availability of early trial dates, and the potential availability of liberty to apply and the making of suitable orders as to ongoing mediation.
9 Those factors taken in totality, in my view, make it desirable that the status quo be preserved by the making of the injunctive orders in the terms sought by the applicants until the trial of this matter, on condition that orders be settled next week as to the future course of mediation and negotiation, and as to the early trial dates and programming orders in relation to trial. On the basis that, at a directions hearing to be conducted at 11 am on Thursday, 25 February 2010, those matters will be dealt with, I will today make orders granting injunctive relief until trial in the terms sought by the applicants' minute of orders as follows:
1 Upon the applicants having given the usual undertaking as to damages, and subject to the Court making further directions on 25 February 2010 regarding the early trial of certain issues in the Application and directions regarding mediation of the disputes the subject of the Application, until trial or further order pursuant to s 39 and/or s 49(1)(c) of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (Cth) each respondent is restrained from: