Contempt in the face of the court is an act which has the tendency to interfere with or undermine the authority, performance or dignity of the courts or those who participate in their proceedings: Witham v Holloway (1995) 183 CLR 525 per McHugh J at 538-539. Disobeying a court order is a contempt of court: O’Shane v Channel Seven Sydney Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 1358. It's an offense punishable by imprisonment or a fine or both.

Two lawyers from the law firm Maurice Blackburn, Elizabeth O'Shea and Min Guo, were denied access by immigration officials to the high security "White" compound for three days in April to complete an inspection of its conditions, despite having obtained court orders, according to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald today.

The lawyers were pursuing a class action on behalf of people who have been injured or pregnant while in detention on Christmas Island during the past three years and suffered physical or psychological injury.

The department of immigration had demanded that the lawyers have a court order to inspect the whole centre. But when the lawyers arrived at the White compound, the regional manager for Christmas Island, Rebecca O'Reilly, refused to let them inspect the premises for “privacy’ and ‘security’ reasons - clearly clueless about DIBPs jurisdictional limits.

According to the report, while the lawyers from Maurice Blackburn remained on the island, their representatives returned to the Supreme Court in Melbourne to seek an urgent application for access to the compound.

Justice Stephen Kaye, who had given the first court order to inspect the centre, again ordered the officers to allow the lawyers to inspect the compound but in the presence of three officers. The department complied, but insisted that five officers accompany the inspection.

Justice Kaye said the conduct of the officers was "high handed" and it involved an "unacceptable disregard" for the orders that he had made earlier.

He ordered the department pay the legal fees – expected to be in the order of $10,000 - associated with the delay, saying the Immigration Minister and the federal government were expected to be "model" litigants in the courts.

Do you think that it is right that it stopped there? Isn’t this a willful disobedience or disregard of, a court order?

Commenting on the matter, a principal lawyer for Maurice Blackburn, Jacob Varghese, said "What is satisfying about this judgement is that a judge has reminded them that this country is still governed by the rule of law, even if you're the Department of Immigration, and you have to abide by court orders," he said.

"They may feel like they are running an authoritative system out at Christmas Island, but the laws of Australia still apply," said principal lawyer for Maurice Blackburn, Jacob Varghese

Mr Varghese said the law firm also believed the security concern cited by the department had been overblown.

"Having gone in, there were no security problems," he said.