Published: 14 Apr 2015
The Abbott Government has appointed to the High Court the Federal Court judge Michelle Gordon, who last month was part of a full bench that struck down the Coalition's attempt to exclude foreign workers on offshore resources projects from Australian labour standards.
Justices Gordon, Anna Katzmann and John Griffiths unanimously upheld the MUA's challenge to a determination issued by Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash last year that purported to reverse the former Labor's government's Allseas legislation.
Those laws extended Australia's migration zone to cover the offshore resources sector, and meant foreign workers required Australian visas.
Justice Gordon has heard some of the cases involving the HSU's Victoria No 1 branch and other cases involving workplace law.
A full Federal court last week overturned a major 2014 judgment by Justice Gordon, in which she found that late payment fees charged by the ANZ bank on credit cards were unlawful and consumers should be reimbursed.
In granting the appeal by the ANZ, Federal Court Chief Justice James Allsop said in his judgment that, although he reached different conclusion to Justice Gordon on a number of matters, he wished to "pay tribute to the meticulous detail and clarity that mark her Honour's reasons in respect of a large and factually and legally complex commercial case."
In a legal first, Justice Gordon is married to the retiring High Court Judge, Kenneth Hayne, who will leave the bench after reaching the statutory retirement age of 70 on June 5.
