Banking Royal Commission: Courts shake-up in report aftermath

The fallout from the Hayne banking inquiry report is set to prompt a massive overhaul of the Federal Court in anticipation of the dozens of criminal cases to be launched.

Jury boxes will be dusted off and up to 10 new Federal Court judges appointed in anticipation of dozens of criminal cases to be launched in the fallout from the Hayne banking inquiry report.

Jury boxes, holding cells and discreet and secure entry points for alleged criminals and juries were built in Federal Court rooms in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth almost 10 years ago.

But to date, not a single one has ever been used as Supreme, County and District courts retained the responsibility to handle criminal ‘white collar’ cases.

MORE: Banking royal commission findings revealed

MORE: Your 5-minute guide to the royal commission findings

BAREFOOT INVESTOR: Greed won’t go away

The fallout from the Hayne banking inquiry report will be massive. Picture: David Geraghty

Now as recommended in the Hayne Report, the government has agreed to extend the jurisdiction of the Federal Court to cover corporate criminal misconduct cases.

The move is being seen by the judiciary as one of the biggest shake-ups to the corporate criminal justice system in 20 years and comes with anticipation of a glut of bankers and financiers to face complex and long-running trials.

According to a scoping report prepared by the Attorney-General’s Department ahead of the Hayne report release, the Federal Court takeover of such cases will require up to 10 new judge positions to be created across the country within 12 months.

“To have something like this up and running in one year is very quick in judicial and legislative terms,” one legal insider said.

The banking royal commission has prompted a major shake-up of corporate criminal cases.

The move will be welcomed by many as having corporate criminal cases under the one jurisdiction will create national uniformity in sentencing and application of laws; at the moment penalties range widely depending on the state.

Jury rooms and jury boxes and security measures for their protection and that of alleged criminals were put in place in the state’s various Commonwealth law courts when the Federal Court was handed responsibility to deal with cartel and collusion cases. But to date every case put forward had either been settled or not progressed to jury stage.

Already 42 criminal briefs have been or are in the process of being referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions with a further 15 expected next year on top of at least 40 civil penalty proceedings.

The DPP late last year received $41.6 million of new money to handle cases referred by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in the wake of the commission hearings.

Under the Hayne recommendations, ASIC will become the primary conduct regulator.