Troja, Frank v Macdonald, L

[1981] FCA 286

EX TEiUIPORE JUDGMENT

j

I N THE FEDERAL COURT O F AUSTRALIA	)
-
) V. No. 2 5 of 1981

V I C T O R I A I_- D I S T R I C T R E G I S T R Y ) )

D I V I S I O N I N D U S T R I A L 1

I N THE MATTER of the Conciliation

and Arbitration Act 1904

BETWEEN: FRANK TROJA

Applicant

AND: - L. MACDONALD, W. J. CURRUN,

l	M. McPPKE and THE AUST'KAL-
ASIAN MEAT INDUSTRY ___________-
EMPLOYEES UNION

Respondents

Coram: Smithers J.

23 October 1981

i	-.
i	Melbourne ---

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

With respect to the substance of this matter, it

has been put very clearly and forcibly on behalf of the

respondents that the statements or comments or observations

contained in the union letters of 26 August 1981 and 2 October

1981, so far as they refer to the applicant, ought to be

regarded as mere comments in the course of a controversy

between the union and those who are responsible for its

policy in recent times and the applicant himself.

?

2.

It seems the re has been some c o n t r o v e r s y , i n p a r t i c u l a r ,

as f a r as t h e e v i d e n c e seems t o show, i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e s t e p s

t h a t o u g h t t o b e t a k e n t o c o p e w i t h t h e v e r y rea l problem

o f t h e volume of export of l i v e sheep. I t i s no d o u b t t r u e ,

t h a t a f a i r d i s c u s s i o n of t h e controversy and the opposing

p o i n t s o f v i e w i n r e l a t i o n t o it, are proper matters f o r

d i s c u s s i o n i n a union communication t o members. But

it is e q u a l l y clear t h a t t h e e x i s t e n c e o f c o n t r o v e r s y a n d a

d e s i r e t o ven t i l a t e v i ews’canno t be used as a cloak f o r t h e

u s e of un ion r e sources fo r t h e pu rpose o f a s s i s t i ng any

c a n d i d a t e o r p o t e n t i a l c a n d i d a t e a t a n e l e c t i o n or i n f l u e n c i n g

t h e electorate f o r or a g a i n s t a n y p a r t i c u l a r c a n d i d a t e .

I n t h a t r e s p e c t , it i s on ly necessa ry t o refer to

! a l l t h e cases which have been quoted before m e which are

referred t o ’ i n t h e judgment of Sheppard J. i n t h e A u s t r a l i a n

Postal - and Telecbmmunications Union ex parte Wilson (1979)

28 A . L . R . a t p.330. I should a lso of c o u r s e r e f e r t o t h e

judgment of Keely J. i n V a l e n t i n e v. Butcher & O r s , V I of

1 9 8 1 i n t h i s C o u r t .	The	r e l e v a n t p r i n c i p l e	i s now	w e l l
e s t a b l i s h e d .

The immediate question i s whether what was pub l i shed

3 .

heading - "1981 Union E l e c t i o n s " - and unde r tha t t he re are

two sets o f p r i n t i n g which are obviously sub-headings under

t h a t main heading. That i s r e i n f o r c e d by t h e f a c t t ha t

when t h e s u b j e c t o f u n i o n e l e c t i o n s i s depa r t ed f rom the re

i s an equa l ly l a rge head ing t o d e a l w i t h t h e new sub-matter.

Namely, " the meat scandal ' ' .

To my mind it is i m p o s s i b l e t o t r e a t t h e s t a t emen t s

and comments which are made under the heading - "Troja

A c t s Again" - r i g h t down t o " t h e r u l e book unde r h i s p i l l ow"

- as any th ing bu t matter in tended t.o i n f l u e n c e v o t e r s i n t h e

coming e l e c t i o n . I t i s said t h a t t h e r e w a s a t t h a t s t a g e no

e l e c t i o n b e i n g h e l d , b u t it i s clear from t h e document i t s e l f

t h a t an e l e c t i o n i s i n the offing and t h a t t h e comments are d i r ec t ec

t o t h e e l e c t i o n w h i c h i s i n t r a i n .

l

The f i r s t s e n t e n c e of t h e ma te r i a l unde r , "Troja

A c t s Again" i s - "The an t i -un ion behav iour o f t h i s man

knows no bounds".

That i s n o t a c o n t r i b u t i o n t o a c o n t r o v e r s y , t h a t i s a n a t t a c k

upon a u n i o n i s t of as harmful a na tu re a lmos t as can be

imagined. I t i s probably worse t o say of a u n i o n i s t he i s

a s c a b , b u t t o say he has been gui l ty of an t i -union behaviour

must a t l e a s t r a n k as second i n o f f e n s i v e n e s s i n t h e e y e s

of a l l u n i o n i s t s .

i

4 .

t he e l ec t ion conduc ted by t h e electoral o f f i c e of t h e

government and t h a t he has w r i t t e n t o t h e I n d u s t r i a l R e g i s t r a r

q u e s t i o n i n g t h e r i g h t of members a t va r ious e s t ab l i shmen t s

t o be r ep resen ted i n t h e committee of management. Those

m a t t e r s may be matters of con t rove r sy in r e spec t o f wh ich

u n i o n i s t s may t a k e d i f f e r e n t v i e w s , b u t i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r case

t h o s e p a r t i c u l a r a c t i o n s are held up as only be ing capable

of o n e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , namely t h a t t h i s man i s a n a n t i -

union man, and indeed the l e t t e r s a y s so.

T h i s l e t te r s a y s t h a t t h e s e m a t t e r s c l e a r l y show t h e

incompe tence and inab i l i t y of t h i s u n i o n man to unders tand

t h e r u l e s . T h a t a g a i n is a v e r y s e r i o u s a l l e g a t i o n t o make

a g a i n s t a man who i s s t a n d i n g for off ice . I f o n e set o u t t o

write a n e l e c t i o n p a m p h l e t c a l c u l a t e d t o do as much harm

as p o s s i b l e t o a po ten t i a l cand ida te , one migh t be ha rd pu t

t o d o b e t t e r t h a n is done i n t h i s p a r a g r a p h .

So f a r as t h e document of 2 August i s concerned, it

is headed "Union Elections 1981" i n l a r g e l e t te rs , and then

sets o u t who t h e c a n d i d a t e s are a n d s a y s i n r e s p e c t of t h e

o f f i c e af s e c r e t a r y / t r e a s u r e r there are t w o c a n d i d a t e s , M r .

Troja and M r . Curran. On the nex t page the re is what

might be c a l l e d a n a r t ic le , headed "A.C.T.U. Suppor ts t h e

Union", it c o n t a i n s a s t a t emen t t h a t M r . Troja i s a n

ant i -union person and one who i s a man of no c r e d i t , whose

words hre on t h e side of t h e enemies of the Union. use l e s s , and who is i n g e n e r a l t a k i n g a s t a n d

S .

Had it been tha t someth ing of tha t na ture had occurred

without any background, without any accompanying circumstances,

it might have been cons idered perhaps an aber ra t ion , a l though

I doubt it, a s t rong s t a t emen t o f peop le who were emot iona l ly

engaged. But coming i n a dccmient which pr imari ly directs

t h e a t t e n t i o n of members t o t h e u n i o n e l e c t i o n s of 1981,

! and has them th ink ing abou t it, and M r . Troja would be by

t h i s time a cand ida te , t hose comments must be regarded as

c a l c u l a t e d t o do nothing less t h a n t o remind people what was

s a i d a b o u t M r . Troja i n a prev ious union l e t te r o n t h e s u b j e c t

of t h e 1 9 8 1 u n i o n e l e c t i o n s .

Accord ingly , a l though the matter was p u t as s t r o n g l y

as p o s s i b l e f o r the r e sponden t s , I t h i n k t h a t it i s man i fe s t

t h a t t h i s c o n d u c t w a s under taken by the persons who undertook

it w i t h t h e e x p r e s s i n t e n t i o n , a n d w i t h e v e r y p o s s i b i l i t y of

ach iev ing t h a t i n t e n t i o n , namely t o destroy any chances t h a t

M r . Tro+ja might have of winning t h e e l e c t i o n . There i s no

q u e s t i o n i n a matter l i k e t h i s o n t h e b a l a n c e of convenience

and the re fo re i n ny opin ion an order prevent ing t h e

r e p e t i t i d n of such conduct should go.

I t has been said t h a t it i s wrong and u n f a i r t h a t

t h e order should be e x p r e s s e d i n terms t h a t it refers,first

of a l 1 , t o t h r e e p e o p l e who are i n t h e e l e c t i o n , b u t t h e a c t i o n

t h a t has been taken i s very - I do not l i k e t o u s e adjectives

which are too s t r o n g - b u t v e r y s t r o n g a c t i o n s t a k e n w i l f u l l y ,

n o d o u b t a b o u t t h a t , i n order t o damage M r . Troja.

Although t h e c o u r t would do everything it c a n n o t to create

any fa l se impress ions i t s e l f , i n s o f a r a s these three people

being a t the head of the l ist of respondents and being sued

as r e p r e s e n t i n g a l l t h e o t h e r s , it does n o t seem t o m e i n

the circumstances t o be anything which can be considered

u n j u s t .

They have not told the c o u r t why t h e y d i d it, they

-have made no a t t e m p t t o e x p l a i n t h e matter, and t h e r e f o r e

they take f u l l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for it and t h e r e f o r e t h e o r d e r

w i l l go a g a i n s t the p r e s i d e n t , t h e s e c r e t a r y and t h e

a s s i s t a n t s e c r e t a r y by name a s r e p r e s e n t i n g a l l those people

who s h a l l he named, those persons be ing the c u r r e n t members

oE t h e committee of management. And I d i r e c t t h a t s e r v i c e -

I n o t i c e t h a t some of t h e r e s p o n d e n t s a r e i n c o u r t and t h e r e f o r e

do n o t r e q u i r e a n y n o t i c e of t h i s O r d e r , b u t I d i r e c t t h a t

i

s e r v i c e o f t h e order be made a t t h e o f f i c e o f t h e V i c t o r i a n

branch of	the union	upon	some	p e r s o n t h e r e a p p a r e n t l y o v e r t h e
age of	1 6 yea r s .

It has been put t o m e t h a t t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n s h o u l d

be dismissed from the proceedings and I accede t o t h a t

i	a p p l i c a t i o n .	I	do	not	accede	t o	t h e a p p l i c a t i o n	t h a t	the
l

union should have i t s c o s t s , p a r t l y b e c a u s e I c o n s i d e r t h a t

those c o s t s are n e g l i g i b l e a n d p a r t l y b e c a u s e I do not regard

it as having been unreasonable in the c i rcumstances of t h i s

case t o proceed on the bas i s t h a t the un ion itself might

possibly have been engaged in t h e genera l p roceedings

r e l a t i o n t o t h e e l e c t i o n s . The d i f f i c u l t y i s t h a t n o t h i n g

has been done by the un ion , oar t he b ranch , t o e x p l a i n how

7.

t h i s matter came t o b e d e a l t w i t h i n t h e b l a t a n t way.

That order w i l l cont inue i n t h e same terms u n t i l t h e

e l e c t i o n i s concluded.