A last-minute backflip on turning off Opal card readers at Sydney train stations has left a court questioning why it should urgently rule on a rail union spat.
Justice Elizabeth Raper said that with no industrial action imminently planned or ongoing, she did not see why the Federal Court should "give a red or a green light" to switching off the card readers.
"What I have from the union is effectively asking, as I see it, for an advisory opinion from the court which I just don't think is the court's role," she said on Friday.
