For another insight into the curfew at Sydney Airport, I quote LeadSled's post from the Cyclone Tracy thread:
http://www.pprune.org/australia-new-...ml#post8929028
Not sure if it is mentioned in any of the posts, but the first QF B707 out of Sydney broke the curfew in Sydney. Qantas Ops made application to the Minister (the only person who could authorise the exemption, Mrs. Jones' wonderful son, Charlie) but the exemption was refused, but the Minister's determination was ignored, and the aircraft left anyway.
Sadly, the executive who took this humanitarian decision "took early retirement" soon after, as a result of pressure from Canberra.
To Charlie, Labor votes in Sydney were more important than an emergency in Darwin.
Now there was a Transport Minister.