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The most important thing to remember is that the ATO (and legislation) cannot supersede a private agreement so if you have established an agreement then not even the courts can override that. From this document https://ia800204.us.archive.org/35/items/cu31924084259872/cu31924084259872.pdf on page 51, quote:
“consensus facit legem (Consent makes law.) Whatever the parties agree to during the progress of a suit, is binding upon the Court, if (1) the parties consenting are under no disablility and (2) the consent is in violation of no law. Every person sui juris can do what he pleases with his own, so long as he violates no law and injures no one else. The agreements of parties during the progress of a suit are favored, and the court cannot go behind them, or revise them, or disregard them, or set them aside, except for fraud, accident or mistake. Where parties consent they bind the court; where they do not, or cannot consent ,the Court binds them” end quote.
However it is our job to learn how to competently hold our position with any agreement that has been made all the way through to the high court if necessary.