Penalty units under Commonwealth laws will increase from $180 each to $210 each from 1 July 2017 following the passing by Parliament of the Crimes Amendment (Penalty Unit) Act 2017.

In addition to bringing forward the increase in the value of the penalty unit, the Act also delays the first automatic CPI adjustment of the penalty unit until 1 July 2020, with indexation to occur every three years following that date.

Penalty units are used to describe the amount payable for monetary penalties imposed for criminal offences in Commonwealth legislation (including the Corporations Act, the National Credit Act, the AML/CTF Act and the Privacy Act).

The penalty unit mechanism allows the maximum monetary penalty for all offences under Commonwealth laws, or Territory ordinances, to be automatically adjusted with a single amendment to section 4AA of the Crimes Act. This removes the need for multiple legislative amendments and ensures that monetary penalties in Commonwealth legislation and Territory ordinances remain comparable.

Australian Consumer Law Penalties

Separately the Small Business Minister has announced that the government will seek to increase the maximum penalties under the Australian Consumer Law from 1 July 2018 by bringing the penalties into line with those already available under the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

For companies, the penalties for breaches of consumer law would increase to $10 million, or three times the value of the benefit the company received, or in the case that cannot be determined, 10% of the company’s annual turnover in the preceding 12 months. The penalty would be set at whichever is greater of the three options.

For individuals, the maximum penalties would be up to $500,000.

The increase is subject to agreement from the state and territory governments.