A speech by Jeffrey Lucy AM, Chairman of ASIC to Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Sydney, 15 April 2005.
Good afternoon. I am delighted to be here to speak with you today.
I'd like to thank CEDA for organising today's event - and other events like it. CEDA plays an important role in Australian society, by providing a valuable forum for Australia's thought leaders to come together and discuss the economic and public policy agenda. Even more than that, it often leads debate on important issues affecting Australia's economic development and sustainability. ASIC is a member of CEDA and our staff regularly participate in CEDA functions around the country.
For my part, I'd like to add to the public policy discussion by speaking to you today about ASIC's contribution to market confidence and the economic development of this country. And in particular, I'd like to focus on a few of the major challenges that we currently have facing us as the corporate regulator, including:
- the introduction of Super Choice on 1 July
- the future of audit regulation, and lastly
- current trends in ASIC enforcement.
Of course, with today's sentencing of Ray Williams and yesterday's of Rodney Adler, ASIC's enforcement role is very topical at the moment.
Today, I would like to discuss with you some issues that have recently received much media speculation – specifically pre-trial guilty pleas and the way ASIC has dealt with those pleas.