FINES (PENALTIES) – AUSTRALIA

Regulator predicts pain for CFMEU

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Original article by Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 31-Aug-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union was fined some $5.6m for breaching workplace laws in 2016-17, compared with just $1.8m in the previous financial year. Australian Building & Construction Commission head Stephen McBurney says the militant union could potentially face fines of more than $20m under the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act, which has significantly increased the maximum fines for both individuals and unions. The CFMMEU has been fined more than $1m for workplace breaches so far in 2018-19.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION

Court blow for ABCC crusade on union fines

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 16-Aug-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission has failed in its bid to have construction union official Alex Tadic personally pay a $7,500 fine for breaching workplace laws. Justice Richard Tracey said that courts can take into account whether a union official has consistently breached workplace laws in the past. He ruled that the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union should pay the fines of Tadic and another official. The union itself was fined $245,000.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CFMEU should be deregistered: judges

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 15-Aug-18

The militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been fined more than $500,000 in two separate court rulings. The Federal Court rejected the union’s appeal against a fine of $306,000 imposed in 2017 over the conduct of its former Queensland president David Hanna. Justice John Logan criticised the CFMMEU’s poor track record regarding compliance with workplace laws and likened the union to its deregistered predecessor, the Builders Labourers Federation. The CFMMEU has also been fined $271,500 for breaching right-of-entry laws.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, BUILDERS’ LABOURERS’ FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Caltex franchisee fined over false pay records

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 24 : 28-Jun-18

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered former Caltex petrol station franchise operator Aulion to pay fines totalling $A80,190 for falsifying its employees’ wage records. The franchise’s owner Peter Dagher in turn has been fined $A16,038. The service station at Five Docks in Sydney is one of 15 that were investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman over concerns about wage exploitation. The penalties for non-compliance have been significantly increased since 2016, when the breaches in question occurred.

CORPORATES
CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX CTX, AULION PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CBA gets green light for BBSW settlement

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jun-18

Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach has ruled that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s $A25m settlement for manipulating the bank bill swap rate is appropriate. Justice Jonathan Beach said the magnitude of the fines should be sufficient to deter similar misconduct. However, he criticised CBA’s bank bill traders for abusing their "privileged position" and questioned the adequacy of training and monitoring of the bank’s traders.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

FWO loses bid to impose record fine against MUA

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 22-Jun-18

The Federal Court has ordered the Maritime Union of Australia to pay a $A38,000 fine over strike action at Hutchison Ports’ container terminals in 2015. The Fair Work Ombudsman had sought fines of up to $A3.5m over the unlawful industrial action, arguing that each work stoppage should have been treated as a separate breach of the Fair Work Act. Justice Jayne Jagot ruled that the strike comprised a single course of action and rejected the FWO’s push for Hutchison to be awarded more than $A620,000 in damages.

CORPORATES
MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HUTCHISON PORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

CFMMEU penalties hit $15m after abuse case

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 15-Jun-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union has been fined $A43,200 over the conduct of organiser Bradley Upton. The Federal Court ruled that Upton had sought to intimidate non-union workers on the Gorgon LNG project into joining the union at a meeting in December 2015. Justice Michael Barker said his conduct was "quite appalling" and fined him $A8,100. Workplace Minister Craig Laundy has warned that such conduct in the workplace will occur frequently under Labor’s proposed union right-of-entry laws.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF JOBS AND SMALL BUSINESS, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Formula behind CBA’s record $700m penalty revealed

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 7-Jun-18

Documents submitted to the Federal Court show that the Commonwealth Bank’s flawed rollout of its intelligent ATMs accounted for $A180m of the $A700m fine that it received for breaching anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing laws. The bank was also fined $A170m for failing to undertake sufficient due diligence on customers who were subsequently found to have been drug traffickers or terrorists. Other penalties included a $A125m fine for failing to provide Austrac with more than 55,000 threshold transaction reports in a timely manner.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE SERVICE, NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE FORCE

CBA cops record $700m hit

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Original article by Michael Roddan, Pamela Williams
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Jun-18

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has admitted to 53,750 breaches of the nation’s anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. CBA has agreed to pay a record fine of $A700m after reaching a settlement with Austrac. The civil penalty equates to about seven per cent of the bank’s profit for fiscal 2017. ­Austrac CEO Nicole Rose says the fine is "appropriate", while she adds that CBA needs to revamp its compliance systems more quickly than the five-year timeframe it has outlined. She has also warned that organised crime gangs are still actively targeting Australian banks.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT. AUSTRALIAN TRANSACTION REPORTS AND ANALYSIS CENTRE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, REGAL FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Bank’s conduct unconscionable

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 19 & 23 : 25-May-18

Westpac faces a maximum fine of $A3.3m after the Federal Court upheld three unconscionable conduct charges with regard to the bank bill swap rate. However, the court ruled that the trades did not amount to market manipulation. Westpac would have faced penalties of up to $A2bn under revised laws that took effect after the offences in question. Its three major rivals had agreed to out-of-court settlements with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over allegations of unconscionable conduct.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ