Infringement notices under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) : has the Commonwealth parliament gone too far?

This paper aims to critically evaluate the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s statutory power to issue infringement notices under Part 9.4AA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). It will be argued that this legislative scheme invalidly confers Commonwealth judicial power on an administrative body and therefore should be repealed or substantially amended. Within the context of the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers, the functional approach, which is currently endorsed by the High Court, as well as alternative approach that focuses on the character of the proceedings rather than the repository of the power, will be applied to support the argument that empowering ASIC to issue infringement notices under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) is constitutionally invalid.