Australian Government response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services report Litigation Funding and the Regulation of the Class Action Industry, and the Australian Law Reform Commission report Integrity, Fairness and Efficiency – An Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third-Party Litigation Funders
Independent Review – Attorney-General’s Department
On 19 October 2021, the Australian Government announced its response to reports of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJCCFS), and the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), on class actions and litigation funding.
The class action regime is an important feature of our legal system that ensures groups of people have equitable access to pursue redress. The increased use of class actions in recent years and the absence of comprehensive regulation over third party funding entities prompted the Government to request the ALRC then the PJCCFS to undertake inquiries into the fairness and efficacy of Australia’s class actions and third party litigation funding regimes. Both reports highlight several areas of reform to ensure that class members receive fair and equitable outcomes from class actions, including those supported by a litigation funder.
Consistent with the Government’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements, the PJCCFS and ALRC reports have been certified by the Attorney-General’s Department as meeting the requirements of a RIS. The Department also provided supplementary analysis where the proposed implementation differed from what the reports recommended, or in relation to recommendations the Government did not agree to. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) does not assess the quality of independent reviews and RIS-like documents used in lieu of a RIS, but does assess whether the options analysed in the independent review are relevant to the regulatory proposal. The OBPR assessed that the options analysed in the independent review are sufficiently relevant to the regulatory proposal.
The agency estimates the average annual regulatory costs at $0.
Trove link to the PJCCFS report originally published on the APH website is HERE
Trove link to the ALRC report originally published on the ALRC website is HERE