On 25 November 2015, the Senate referred an inquiry into the inconsistencies and inadequacies of current criminal, civil and administrative penalties for corporate and financial misconduct or white-collar crime to the Senate Economics References Committee.

The inquiry lapsed at the end of the 44th Parliament.

On 11 October 2016, the Senate agreed to the committee's recommendation that this inquiry be re-adopted in the 45th Parliament. The committee is to report by 28 February 2017.

On 16 February 2017, the Senate granted an extension to the committee to report by 23 March 2017.

All correspondence and evidence previously received for this inquiry has been made available to the new committee. This means that submissions already provided to the committee about this issue do not need to be re-submitted. Submissions to this inquiry received in the 44th Parliament can be accessed here.

The committee intends to refer to all evidence received during the 44th Parliament.