PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT OF DISCLOSURE BREACHES IN AUSTRALIA

The law relating to disclosure breaches in Australia has developed incrementally, with the result that there is a range of potentially overlapping remedies, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which is the primary regulator in this context, will often have to bring more than one type of action in order to achieve a desired regulatory outcome. Actions for compensation by investors have received a fillip from reforms to facilitate class actions. However, uncertainty remains as to the extent to which investors are required to establish reliance. Recent growth in enforcement of disclosure breaches has highlighted the need to rationalise the available remedies and, in that process, to consider the desirable balance between compensatory and deterrent remedies, entity and individual liability, and public and private enforcement.