News and Media

Presentations & Articles

27.11.2019

Corporate attribution – principled simplicity

In its Discussion Paper on Australia’s corporate criminal responsibility regime, the ALRC proposes a simplified method for attributing criminal responsibility to corporations.   What follows is a short summary and explanation of the key principles underlying that proposal. The law treats corporations as ‘people’. Therefore, the prohibitions imposed on people are usually applicable for both humans

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21.11.2019

Evolving families and the continuing justification for rules particular to the regulation of families

Justice SC Derrington, President of the ALRC, presented at the Family and Relationship Services Australia (FRSA) National Conference 2019 on 21 November 2019.

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19.11.2019

When Should Officers be Liable for Corporate Crime?

Research and consultations in the course of the ALRC’s Inquiry into Corporate Criminal Responsibility have highlighted the important role played by senior management in ensuring compliance throughout the different parts of a corporation. While corporations can be ‘a person’ under law, they are also made up of individuals – some of whom have authority and

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18.11.2019

Ensuring appropriate and effective regulation of corporations:  A recalibration of Australian corporate regulation

In its Discussion Paper on Australia’s corporate criminal responsibility regime released on 15 November 2019, the ALRC proposes a new model of corporate regulation that aims to achieve more appropriate and effective regulation of corporations. Central to this is the adoption of a principled distinction between the use of criminal and civil regulation. A lack

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13.10.2019

Australia’s no-fault divorce—why it remains controversial

In October 2019 Principal Legal Officer Micheil Paton spoke with ABC Radio National about some of the history of family law reform in Australia, and some of the ALRC’s recommendations from its Family Law Inquiry. Listen to the Rational National episode

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13.09.2019

Deodands and Frankpledges!

While there are clear commercial and economic benefits as a result of the creation of the corporation, the construction of a legal artifice of ‘the legal person’ raises fundamental questions about the applicability of the criminal law to that artifice. A corporation cannot be sent to jail. It has no soul that may be damned.

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13.09.2019

Be Civil not Criminal: The Role of the Criminal law in the Regulatory Pyramid

—  The reality we have found is that when you actually map the criminal laws which are applicable to corporations, what you find is much closer to a rhomboid than a neat pyramid. The scope and scale and pervasiveness of criminal offences which are potentially applicable to corporations, is shocking. —  Read Venetia’s full speech

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04.09.2019

Of Shields and Swords – let the jousting begin!

Justice SC Derrington, President of the ALRC, presented at the Freedom19 Conference in Sydney.

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15.05.2019

Thinking big: The Australian Constitution as a law reform project

As part of the ALRC’s Where next for law reform? project the ALRC is encouraging Australians to think big. Arguably the most significant law reform initiative would be to revise the constitution. We have prepared a short paper to start the conversation.

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29.01.2019

Law Reform – Future Directions

When I was invited (almost 12 months ago now) to speak at this conference and on this topic, I felt relatively confident that after a year in the role as President of the ALRC, I might have some useful thoughts to share with you about future directions in law reform. That confidence evaporated rapidly when I began preparing theses remarks.
I have identified two main reasons for that loss of confidence (in addition to the obvious point that it is not a topic that lends itself naturally to humour). The first, and most important, reason has been the realisation of just how little influence the ALRC itself has in the topics that will be selected for future law reform references and the degree of political expediency involved the topics that are referred to the Commission. The second reason is the great uncertainty that surrounds the funding of the ALRC and the obvious challenge such uncertainty presents for ensuring that the ALRC can attract and retain a legal team of the highest quality.

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