Prosecutions under the Australian Work Health and Safety Acts: New Sanctions, Old Approaches

This chapter examines the sentencing of work health and safety offenders for offences against the harmonised Australian Work Health and Safety Acts. It argues that the approach to prosecution across the different Australian jurisdictions is not consistent, and that inconsistency begins in the pre-sentencing context, including approaches of the different regulators to investigation and prosecutorial decision making, differences in sentencing legislation and in the courts in which prosecutions are conducted.  The chapter shows that there are major differences in sentencing outcomes from successful prosecutions in the two largest states — Queensland and New South Wales — as measured by the magnitude of fines, the number of non-pecuniary sanctions imposed, and whether convictions are recorded.