Judicial Commissions Act 1994

After completing an examination of a complaint, a commission must—

prepare a report of its examination; and

submit the report to the Attorney-General.

A report must—

set out the commission’s findings on material questions of fact; and

refer to the evidence or other material on which those findings were based; and

set out the commission’s conclusion as to whether or not the behaviour or physical or mental capacity of the judicial officer concerned could amount to proved misbehaviour or incapacity such as to warrant his or her removal from office.

If a commission is of the opinion that, if any of its findings, or any of the evidence given before the commission, in relation to a person (other than the judicial officer the subject of the complaint) were to be presented to the Legislative Assembly—

a person who has been or may be charged with an offence may not receive a fair trial for the offence; or

the conduct of an investigation of a breach or possible breach of the law may be prejudiced; or

the existence or identity of a confidential source of information in relation to the enforcement or administration of the law may be disclosed or a person enabled to ascertain the existence or identity of that source; or

there may be prejudice to the safety or reputation of a person;

the commission may include those findings or that evidence in a separate report and submit the report to the Attorney-General, together with—

a statement of its opinion; and

a recommendation that the report not be presented to the Legislative Assembly.

When submitting a report to the Attorney-General, a commission must commit any documents or things (except documents or things required for the purpose of finalising matters under section 30) then in its possession to the custody of the Attorney-General for safekeeping.

The Attorney-General must accept a recommendation referred to in subsection (3) (f) unless he or she is satisfied that there are compelling reasons of public policy why the relevant report should be presented to the Legislative Assembly.