R v Leach; Ex parte Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions

(2022) 10 QR 40; [2022] QCA 7

Queensland Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

Section 355-50(1) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) permits a taxation officer to disclose information from a pre-charge compulsory examination under s 353-10 to a magistrate in support of a search warrant application, as such disclosure falls within the performance of duties as a taxation officer.
The use of derivative evidence obtained through lawful pre-charge investigative steps informed by a compulsory examination does not automatically conflict with the accusatorial principle or the companion principle, particularly where the evidence would have been available from independent sources and the new prosecution team will not have access to the compelled material.
A permanent stay remains an extraordinary remedy requiring a fundamental defect that nothing can cure; where the prosecution has reconstituted its team without access to compelled material and derivative evidence is independently obtainable, the defect is not irremediable.