The Federal Government has moved to stiffen the jail and financial penalties attaching to breaches of financial services laws with maximum jail terms proposed to increase in some cases from one year to five years.
The move is outlined in exposure draft legislation released for consultation today, which the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg together with Assistant Treasurer, Stuart Robert said would double maximum imprisonment penalties and significantly increase financial penalties for some of the most serious ‘white-collar’ criminal offences.
They said this would bring Australia’s penalties into closer alignment with leading international jurisdictions.
The announcement said the financial penalty for individuals for civil contraventions would also be increased more than five‑fold, from $200,000 to $1.05 million, or three times the benefit gained (whichever is greatest) from the contravention.
It said, “contraveners may also be stripped of ill-gotten gains from their illegal activities”.
The announcement said the draft legislation also sought to:
- introduce criminal offences that sit alongside strict and absolute liability offences;
- harmonise and expand the infringement notice regime; and
- introduce a new test that applies to all dishonesty offences under the Corporations Act 2001.
The two ministers said the proposed changes sought to implement key recommendations of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC )Enforcement Review Taskforce, and complement action the Government had already taken including providing $70.1 million in additional funding to the regulator to bolster its enforcement capabilities and establishing a new one stop shop for consumer complaints.
