The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has confirmed that the Federal Court of Australia has dismissed the judicial review application brought by BUSS (Queensland) Pty Ltd (BUSSQ) seeking to set aside APRA’s decision to impose additional licence conditions on the fund. The additional licence conditions were imposed to address prudential concerns about BUSSQ’s fitness and propriety processes and its management of fund expenditure, in light of allegations of serious misconduct within the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union and subsequent actions by state and federal governments and the Fair Work Commission. Under the conditions, BUSSQ must engage an independent expert to review its processes for assessing the fitness and propriety of responsible persons and for ensuring expenditure is in members’ best financial interests, and must publish the findings of that review. APRA had agreed to suspend the additional conditions until the proceeding was finally determined. APRA said it will now move quickly to progress the work required by the additional licence conditions, subject to any applicable review process.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority 2025-01-31
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority prevails as Federal Court dismisses BUSSQ challenge to additional licence conditions
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced that the Federal Court of Australia dismissed BUSS (Queensland) Pty Ltd's application to overturn APRA's decision to impose additional licence conditions addressing prudential concerns. These conditions require BUSSQ to engage an independent expert to review its fitness and propriety processes and fund expenditure management, with findings to be published.