The High Court has removed any concerns over the ability of
regulators to make submissions to courts on the appropriate
response to a breach of civil penalty provisions.
In Commonwealth v Director, Fair Work Building
Inspectorate, the High Court considered the role of regulators
in bringing civil penalty proceedings and concluded that, like any
party to a civil proceeding, regulators are able to make
submissions or reach agreements on what they consider the
appropriate penalty to be.
Background
The Director of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate
brought civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against two
unions involved in unlawful industrial action and in breach of a
civil penalty provision under the Building and Construction
Industry Improvement Act 2005 (Cth). The unions and the
Director had filed an agreed statement of facts and submissions on
the civil penalty amount that the parties were seeking from the
Court. The agreed facts said that,
