ANZ has been hit with the biggest corporate penalty in Australian history – $240 million. Sounds huge, right? Until you realise the bank made $3.5 billion in profit in just six months. That means this “record fine” is worth less than two weeks of earnings.
From ANZ to Qantas, Coles, Woolworths, Santos, and even Kmart – corporations treat fines as just another line in the budget. Workers underpaid, customers misled, the environment polluted, and privacy invaded. The punishment is always dwarfed by the profit.
If the fine for the crime is less than the profit from the crime, why would they stop?
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Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.
