Of manners gentle: enforcement strategies of Australian business regulatory agencies

Abstract

This book shows in a systematic way that Australian business regulatory agencies are of manners gentle. Not only is this reflected in the attitudes of the regulators, it also characterises their policies and regulatory outcomes such as prosecutions, licence suspensions, plant shutdowns, injunctions, or the informal use of adverse publicity. Litigation or any kind of adversarial encounter with industry is commonly undertaken only as a last resort