Nigel, ATC have no authority in this case to withhold a clearance, as the airport is open.
Having a clearance is no defence to taking off when not permitted by curfew, as ATC did their job and told them that curfew was in operation.
I'm surprised that a larger penalty wasn't handed down, given the fact they had requested, and been specifically denied, a dispensation.
The dispensation requests, and reasons for approval or rejection are all available on the internet if you are interested in the reasons why they would be rejected. In general, dispensations are approved if the airline has no notice (IE pushback at 9:30 and have a failure), and there is very limited accomodation in Sydney. I believe in this case the airline had many hours knowledge that this could be an issue, which often results in rejection.
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