AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Tobin Meagher, David Benson, Tessa Trend and William Stefanidis, Clayton Utz
blower Protections) Act 2019 (Cth): see 6.4 Protec- tions Afforded to Whistle-Blowers . Serious corruption is now also specifically targeted under Australia’s thematic sanctions framework. In December 2021, amendments to the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 (Cth) allowed the Commonwealth government to impose economic, financial and trade restrictions on individuals who have engaged in situ - ations of grave international concern, including those responsible for, or complicit in, serious corruption. Recommendations from recent inquiries into Aus - tralia’s sanctions regime, including by the Senate, focussed on how the regime can better align with existing anti-corruption measures, and better target Australians involved in designated actions, suggesting future reforms are possible. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery Domestic Bribery Section 141.1 (1) of the Criminal Code provides that it is an offence for a person to: dishonestly provide, offer or cause to be provided or offered a benefit to another person with the intention of influencing a Common - wealth public official in the exercise of their duties. “Benefit” is broadly defined to include any advantage, and is not limited to money or property, and “Com - monwealth public official” includes all employees of the Commonwealth and any Commonwealth author- ity. A similar but lesser offence applies to corrupting ben - efits given to a Commonwealth public official under Section 142.1 (1) of the Criminal Code. Corresponding offences apply to the receipt by Com - monwealth public officials of bribes or corrupting ben - efits: Sections 141.1 (3) and 142.1 (3). It is also an offence under Section 135.4 (7) to con - spire with another person with the intention of dishon - estly influencing a Commonwealth public official in the exercise of their duties.
Lastly, the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth (the “Prosecution Policy”) provides guidance as to how prosecution decisions are to be made by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) in relation to Commonwealth offences, including brib - ery offences. 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation As discussed later in this chapter, on 8 September 2024, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combat - ting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 (Cth) (the “Combatting Foreign Bribery Act”) came into force. It broadened the foreign bribery offence (including extending the offence to include candidates for office, and bribery conducted to obtain a personal advantage), replaced the requirement that a benefit or business advantage be “not legitimately due” with the concept of “improp - erly influencing” a foreign official, and introduced an offence of failing to prevent foreign bribery by an asso - ciate (see 2.1 Bribery ). It also amended the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) to preserve the exist - ing rule prohibiting a person from claiming a bribe to a foreign official as a deduction. Prior to this, there were several noteworthy amend- ments to Australia’s anti-bribery and corruption laws including: • in November 2015, Schedule 2 of the Crimes Leg - islation Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Act 2015 (Cth) amended the foreign bribery offence to clarify that it is not necessary to prove: (a) an intention to bribe a particular foreign public official; or (b) that any business or business advantage was actually obtained or retained as a result of the bribery; and • in February 2016, two important new offences were introduced into the Criminal Code in relation to false dealings with accounting documents, to aid enforcement of bribery and corruption, and anti- money laundering, offences. Significant reforms to Australia’s whistle-blower pro - tection laws came into force in July 2019 pursuant to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistle -
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