The employer tried to wipe her entitlements - the court found a contract structure it couldn't ignore
When Australia's first commercial spaceport collapsed into liquidation, its former chief executive came out of court owed millions over the payout she was promised.
On June 19, 2026, the Federal Court found that Carley Scott, the former CEO of Equatorial Launch Australia, was entitled to $2,367,430.25 under a special contract built around her work for the start-up, plus $17,458.58 in unpaid employment entitlements. The Court has asked both sides to file proposed orders putting those reasons into effect.
Scott's story with ELA started in 2018. The company was planning a rocket-launch site in East Arnhem Land, and she came on first as a contractor, then as CEO from November 2019 on a $250,000 salary. On top of that, the company signed a separate deal in October 2019 promising her up to $5 million in convertible notes, released in stages over five years.
Her employment ended in March 2022. Then the fight began.
ELA's main argument was that the original deal had been swapped out for an employee share option plan that Scott had agreed to. Justice Dowling didn't accept that. He found the contract had been varied in 2021 to drop some funding conditions, but never replaced. Scott, he said, never actually signed up to the share plan - there was no signed cancellation document, no new contract, no finished paperwork. He described the company chair, who drove the proposed switch, as...
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