This article reviews the growth in the use of infringement notices in federal regulation from being "fines" for low level offences to sometimes being significant penalties in their own right, lacking transparency and oversight. It argues that the practices of some regulators in relation to infringement notices raise additional concerns of fairness. The article suggests that a Regulatory Contraventions Statute of general application supplemented by regulatory practice guidelines may assist to ensure that infringement notice schemes avoid a growth by stealth of executive power into areas that are clearly judicial.
Relation
Australian Business Law Review / Vol. 42, pp.276-291