Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

MIGRATION ACT 1958 - SECT 486R

Application for order

  (1)   The Minister may apply to an eligible court for an order that a person, who is alleged to have contravened a civil penalty provision, pay the Commonwealth a pecuniary penalty.

  (2)   The Minister must make the application within 6 years of the alleged contravention.

Eligible court may order person to pay pecuniary penalty

  (3)   If the eligible court is satisfied that the person has contravened a civil penalty provision, the court may order the person to pay to the Commonwealth such pecuniary penalty for the contravention as the court determines to be appropriate.

Note:   Subsection   (5) sets out the maximum penalty that the eligible court may order the person to pay.

  (4)   An order under subsection   (3) is a civil penalty order .

Determining pecuniary penalty

  (5)   The pecuniary penalty must not be more than:

  (a)   if the person is a body corporate--5 times the amount of the pecuniary penalty specified for the civil penalty provision; and

  (b)   otherwise--the amount of the pecuniary penalty specified for the civil penalty provision.

  (6)   In determining the pecuniary penalty, the eligible court must take into account all relevant matters, including:

  (a)   the nature and extent of the contravention; and

  (b)   the nature and extent of any loss or damage suffered because of the contravention; and

  (c)   the circumstances in which the contravention took place; and

  (d)   whether the Department has taken any administrative action against the person in relation to the conduct constituting the contravention or any similar conduct; and

  (e)   whether the person has been issued with an infringement notice under regulations made for the purposes of section   506A in relation to the conduct constituting the contravention or any similar conduct; and

  (f)   whether the person has previously been found by a court in proceedings under this Act to have engaged in any similar conduct.