Civil Penalties in Australia

​​Civil penalties and civil penalty proceedings have become a major regulatory and industrial enforcement tool across various pieces of commonwealth, state and territory legislation. Yet, little has been written about the general law of civil penalties, outside of the context of specific legislative regimes. This text aims to fill that longstanding gap in legal literature by being the first standalone, practical guide to civil penalty proceedings in Australia. 
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​Civil Penalties in Australia distinguishes itself through its in-depth analysis of key issues such as penalty privilege, civil procedure, and the process of fixing a penalty, all presented in a regime-agnostic manner.  By focusing on common principles and themes, and taking examples from a range of legislative regimes, the text provides relevant guidance for any civil penalty proceeding.  
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​Chapter 1 introduces the nature of civil penalties and the history and concept of penalty privilege. Chapter 2 introduces major civil penalty regimes and regulators like ASIC, the ACCC, and the FWO, as well as the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Cth). Chapter 3 discusses statutory investigations and regulators’ coercive information‐gathering powers. Chapter 4 examines the liability phase of proceedings, highlighting the divergence from conventional civil litigation and emphasising the impact of penalty privilege for individuals. Chapter 5 explains the penalty phase and the court’s approach to setting penalties. Chapters 6 through 9 cover other types of relief, evidentiary issues, infringement notices, and principles for attributing conduct and liability. Finally, Chapter 10 addresses the intersection between civil penalties and private litigation, including where penalties are sought by private applicants.​

Related Titles

• Pearce, Statutory Interpretation in Australia, 10th edition

• Zuckerman et al, Zuckerman on Australian Civil Procedure, 2nd edition

• Weinstein, Anderson, Marychurch & Wootton, Uniform Evidence in Australia, 4th edition