Federal Court of Australia Amendment (Extending Criminal Jurisdiction and Other Measures) Bill

Overview

The Federal Court of Australia Amendment (Extending Criminal Jurisdiction and Other Measures) Bill (the Bill) supports the expansion of the Federal Court of Australia's (Federal Court's) jurisdiction in relation to corporate crime.

Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Bill confers jurisdiction on the Federal Court to hear a range of indictable and summary corporate crime offences within the regulatory remit of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. These amendments would enhance the capacity of the court system to address corporate crime matters by enabling the Federal Court to exercise its jurisdiction concurrently with state and territory courts. This is to allow financial regulators to efficiently prosecute more corporate criminal misconduct matters each year.

Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Bill makes several technical and procedural amendments to give effect to the Federal Court’s expanded corporate crime jurisdiction. These amendments allow related summary offences to be heard alongside indictable offences when based on the same factual situation. These amendments also allow the Federal Court and state and territory superior courts to transfer corporate crime matters between them. Finally, these amendments clarify how these processes will operate in the context of the Federal Court’s expanded jurisdiction. This is to reduce delays and improve efficiency in the hearing of corporate crime matters.

To support the expansion of the Federal Court’s jurisdiction, Schedule 2 of the Bill allows the Federal Court to enter into a formal arrangement with a state or territory to use its established jury preparation processes. In cases in which the Federal Court elects to use the new procedure, and the state or territory agrees, the state or territory process for recruitment of jury panels would apply. This will not replace the Federal Court’s ability to recruit a jury panel under the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976. Rather, it will provide an additional option for preparing a jury panel. The additional option for preparing a jury panel would help make recruiting jury panels more effective and help prevent delays in indictable proceedings.

Why your views matter

We will use your responses to inform drafting and any potential improvements that could be made to the operational effectiveness of the Bill.

While consultation is open to all members of the public, we would particularly like to hear from heads of jurisdictions, state and territory justice departments and directors of public prosecutions, law societies and bar associations. We would also like to hear from others who have expertise, interest, or a background in the prosecution of corporate crimes.