Why an SBF trial wouldn’t happen in ‘lamentably slow’ Australia
Departing Federal Court judge Steven Rares has taken aim at the “lamentably slow” pace of litigation in Australia and the “incomprehensible” laws that cover the corporate sector.
Justice Rares, who had his farewell ceremony on Tuesday after 17 years on the bench, told The Australian Financial Review he was concerned at how long it took to prosecute white-collar crimes.
Taking flight: Justice Steven Rares is planning a busy retirement after being on the bench for 17 years. Louie Douvis
“You can see Sam Bankman-Fried is being tried in the United States on indictment before a jury 10–12 months after the collapse [of cryptocurrency exchange FTX],” he said.
“In Australia, the regulator would not even be looking at it for that period [of time]. Hardly anybody gets prosecuted for being a corporate criminal in Australia.”
Justice Rares recalled that when he started at the bar in 1980, a long commercial case was two to three days.
“Today that doesn’t even cover the opening of one side in some of these commercial matters. Life is not that more complex. But the statute law is.”
Justice Rares hopes the Australian Law Reform Commission’s review of the Corporations Act, which must be delivered by November 30, will make a difference.
“I hope it succeeds. The real problem is that Treasury has been given the power to draft the legislation, and they are responsible for the most incomprehensible and complex act – the Tax Act,” he said.
“They couldn’t even rewrite the 1936 Tax Act; they tried in 1997, and now we have two tax acts [the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and 1997, plus the Income Tax Administration Act 1953].”
He said legislation had become too prescriptive across the board and cited the advent of the Trade Practices Act in
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