Director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union

The case of Director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union involves a dispute where the CFMEU, a union organisation, organised a blockade on a construction site at the Perth International Airport to coerce payment of outstanding wages to employees of a subcontractor, Concealed Interiors. This action constituted a contravention of section 348 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The legal issues the court needed to decide included the appropriate penalty for the contraventions, considering factors such as prior conduct, the extent of the contraventions, and whether the contraventions should be treated as a single course of conduct. The court also had to apply the principle of proportionality in determining the penalties.

The court found that while the CFMEU had not shown contrition, it had cooperated with enforcement authorities by admitting to relevant facts early in the legal process. In determining the penalties, the court emphasised the need for both general and specific deterrence. Given the CFMEU's history of disregarding industrial laws, the penalties needed to serve as a specific deterrent for the union and its officials. The court considered the range of penalties proposed by the applicant and found that the penalties imposed should reflect the seriousness of the contraventions while adhering to the principle of proportionality. The penalties imposed were determined to be appropriate to serve the purposes of punishment, deterrence, and rehabilitation.

The final orders imposed penalties on the respondents, including the CFMEU and several of its officials, for their contraventions of section 348 of the Fair Work Act. The penalties ranged from $1,000 to $2,750, depending on the individual respondent and their level of involvement in the contraventions. The total penalties imposed were intended to reflect the seriousness of the conduct and to serve as a deterrent against future contraventions of industrial laws. The penalties were to be paid to the applicant as per section 546(3)(a) of the Fair Work Act.