AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Tobin Meagher, David Benson, Tessa Trend and William Stefanidis, Clayton Utz
2.5 Intermediaries There are no specific provisions concerning the com - mission of an offence through an intermediary. How - ever, the offences under the Criminal Code are struc - tured broadly so as to capture such offences. See 2.1 Bribery and 3.3 Corporate Liability . 2.6 Lobbyists Lobbying activities are regulated at the federal and state or territory level by the applicable Lobbying Codes of Conduct (the “Code of Conduct”) and Lob - byist Registers (the “Register”). At the national level, the AGD administers the Com - monwealth Code of Conduct, which includes require - ments to ensure contact between lobbyists and Commonwealth government representatives remain consistent with the public’s expectations in respect of integrity, transparency and honesty. Under the Commonwealth Code of Conduct, sub - ject to very limited exceptions, anyone who acts on behalf of third-party clients (regardless of sector) for the purpose of lobbying a Commonwealth govern - ment representative is considered a lobbyist and is therefore required to register as such. Government representatives are prohibited from engaging with lobbyists that are not registered on the Register. The Commonwealth’s Register is publicly searchable on the AGD’s website. However, unlike some States and Territories (includ - ing NSW and Western Australia), the Commonwealth Code of Conduct and Register are not enshrined in legislation, and therefore it is not compulsory for lobbyists to register. A Senate inquiry into access to Australian Parliament House by lobbyists and the ade - quacy of current transparency arrangements recom - mended in May 2024 that the Australian government introduce legislation to require all lobbyists to adhere to the Code of Conduct and maintain registration on the Register. Other recommendations included cap - turing a broader range of actors (eg, in-house lobby - ists), and independent administration of the Code of Conduct and Register. The States of Victoria, NSW, South Australia, and Queensland have also all recently strengthened, or
are in the process of considering strengthening, the regulation of lobbying (and related Ministerial conduct) in their respective states.
3. Scope of Application 3.1 Limitation Period
At general law, a prosecution for a criminal offence can be commenced at any time, unless a statute pro - vides otherwise. However, criminal proceedings may be stayed to prevent injustice to the defendant caused by unreasonable delay. There is no statute of limitations for prosecutions of the above-mentioned Commonwealth offences. That is because under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) (Crimes Act), there is no limitations period for the prosecu - tion of offences by individuals against a law of the Commonwealth where the maximum penalty exceeds six months’ imprisonment, or for the prosecution of offences by companies where the maximum penalty exceeds AUD49,500. 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation The Criminal Code offences referred to in 2.1 Bribery , 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping and 2.4 Public Offi - cials have broad extraterritorial reach. In relation to the foreign bribery offence, either some part of the conduct constituting the alleged offence must have occurred in Australia or, if the conduct occurred wholly outside Australia, the person must be an Australian citizen or resident, or a body corporate incorporated in Australia. In relation to the offence of bribing a Commonwealth public official, it does not matter if the conduct con - stituting the alleged offence, or the result of that con - duct, occurred entirely outside Australia. In relation to the state and territory-based offences, there must be some nexus between the state or terri - tory and the offence. For example, in NSW that nexus will be held to exist where the offence is committed: • wholly or partly in the state; or
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