Spare me the accusations of parochialism. The curfew is the curfew. You either work within the bounds of it or you cop a fine. The fine obviously isn't enough because people are quite happy to wear it. I don't give two hoots who busts it- QF, DJ, J*, etc.
I've been in the same situation on a number of times. I've had to stand in front of a delayed bunch of passengers and tell them that they're now going to be delayed another 7+ hours. I've stood there and written out the cab charge dockets to get them home and back again. It's part of doing business.
Sure, the curfew is a horses ass. Sure, the minister should provide dispensations if the weather has been diabolical and a/c can take off south and/or land north, etc. What I find most interesting is that we keep diverting back into the actions of the minister (something we professional crew have little control over) or talking about how third world Sydney is in having a curfew and avoid actually looking at the issue that we DO have control over- whether or not you'd take off knowingly breaking the law. Why is that we're so reluctant to examine this issue?