Royal Commissions Act 1923

This Act may be cited as the Royal Commissions Act 1923.

In this Act, unless a contrary intention appears:

Commission and Royal Commission means any commission of inquiry issued by the Governor by letters patent under the Public Seal, and includes a sole commissioner or a member or members of the commission sitting for the purposes of the inquiry.

Document includes any book, register or other record of information, however compiled, recorded or stored.

Reasonable excuse in relation to any act or omission by a witness or a person summoned as a witness before a commission means an excuse which would excuse an act or omission of a similar nature by a witness or a person summoned as a witness before a court of law.

Whenever the Governor by letters patent under the Public Seal issues a Royal Commission to any person to make any inquiry, the provisions of this Act shall apply to and with respect to the inquiry.

In this Division chairperson means the chairperson of a commission, and includes (except in section 5A):

a deputy chairperson of a commission appointed by the letters patent or chosen by the other commissioners in accordance with the letters patent to act in the absence of the chairperson, and

a member of a commission acting in accordance with an authorisation under section 5A (3).

In this Division commissioner includes any person to whom a commission is issued, whether as chairperson or as a member other than the chairperson, or as sole commissioner.

A commissioner may sit for the purposes of any part of an inquiry if:

the commissioner is a sole commissioner, or

all the members, or a quorum of the members, of the commission are sitting for the purposes of that part of the inquiry, or

the commissioner is the chairperson of the commission, or

the commissioner is a member of the commission authorised by the chairperson to sit for the purposes of that part of the inquiry.

More than one member may be authorised under subsection (1) (d) by the chairperson to sit for the purposes of a part of the inquiry, in which case the member designated by the chairperson is to preside.

A member authorised under subsection (1) (d) or, if there is more than one member so authorised, the designated presiding member is authorised to exercise the powers of the chairperson of the commission under the other sections of this Division (unless the authorisation under subsection (1) (d) provides otherwise).

If a member is authorised under subsection (1) (d), commissioners may sit concurrently for the purposes of an inquiry.

Every commissioner shall in the exercise of the commissioner’s duty as a commissioner have the same protection and immunity as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Any counsel or solicitor appointed by the Crown to assist the commission may appear at the inquiry.

Where it is shown to the satisfaction of the chairperson, or of the sole commissioner, as the case may be, that any person is substantially and directly interested in any subject-matter of the inquiry, or that the person’s conduct in relation to any such matter has been challenged to the person’s detriment, the chairperson or sole commissioner may authorise such person to appear at the inquiry, and may allow the person to be represented by counsel or solicitor.

Any counsel or solicitor so appointed and any person so authorised or the person’s counsel or solicitor may with the leave of the chairperson or of the sole commissioner, as the case may be, examine or cross-examine any witness on any matter which the commissioner deems relevant to the inquiry, and any witness so examined or cross-examined shall have the same protection and be subject to the same liabilities as if examined by the commissioner.

The chairperson or the sole commissioner, as the case may be, may by notice in writing summon any person to attend the commission at a time and place named in the summons, and then and there to give evidence and to produce any documents or other things in the person’s custody or control which the person is required by the summons to produce.

Any of the commissioners may administer an oath to any person appearing as a witness before the commission, whether the witness has been summoned or appears without being summoned, and may examine the witness upon oath.

Where any witness to be examined before the commission conscientiously objects to take an oath the witness may make an affirmation that the witness conscientiously objects to take an oath, and that the witness will state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all questions that may be put to the witness.

An affirmation so made shall be of the same force and effect, and shall entail the same liabilities as an oath.

Every witness who has been summoned to attend the commission shall appear and report from day to day unless the witness is excused from attendance or until the witness is released from further attendance by the chairperson or by the sole commissioner, as the case may be.

A witness summoned to attend or appearing before the commission shall not be entitled, except as otherwise provided in this section and section 127 (Religious confessions) of the Evidence Act 1995, to refuse:

to be sworn or to make an affirmation,

to answer any question relevant to the inquiry put to the witness by any of the commissioners,

to produce any document or other thing in the witness’s custody or control which the witness is required by the summons to produce.

Nothing in this section shall make it compulsory for any witness:

to answer any question or produce any document or other thing if the witness has a reasonable excuse for refusing,

to disclose any secret process of manufacture.

A witness summoned to attend or appearing before the commission shall have the same protection, and shall in addition to the penalties provided by this Act be subject to the same liabilities in any civil or criminal proceeding as a witness in any case tried in the Supreme Court.

If a commission obtains for the purposes of the inquiry any document or other thing or any information that is provided voluntarily by a person, subsection (3) applies to the person as if the person were a witness appearing before the commission.

The commission may inspect any documents or other things produced before it, and may retain them for such reasonable period as it thinks fit, and, in the case of documents produced before it, may make copies of such matter as is relevant to the inquiry or take extracts from them.

The commission may employ such assistance as it deems proper for the carrying out of any inquiry or investigation, and may by writing authorise any person so employed to inspect and report to it upon any documents or other things, or (without affecting the generality of the foregoing) any accounts, it considers relevant to the subject matter of the inquiry.

When the retention of a document or other thing ceases to be reasonably necessary for the purposes of the inquiry to which it relates, the commission is required, if a person who appears to the commission to be entitled to the document or other thing so requests, to cause it to be delivered to that person.

The requirement under subsection (3) does not apply if the commission has furnished the document or other thing or proposes to furnish it to a person or body referred to in section 12A or the commission deals with it or proposes to deal with it otherwise according to law.

A commission may communicate any information or furnish any material (including evidence) that it obtains in the course of the inquiry conducted by it to a Commission of Inquiry, if the information or material relates or may relate to matters within the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry.

A commission may communicate any information or furnish any material (including evidence) that it obtains in the course of the inquiry conducted by it to a law enforcement agency, if the information or material relates or may relate to a breach of a law of the State, of another State or Territory or of the Commonwealth.

In this section:

Commission of Inquiry means a person or body holding a commission to inquire into and report on any matters and having:

powers under this Act, or

powers under another law of the State or under a law of another State or Territory or of the Commonwealth, being in either case a law that has the same or a similar purpose or effect as this Act (such as the Royal Commissions Act 1902 of the Commonwealth).

law enforcement agency means a person or body with responsibilities for the enforcement of laws of the State, of another State or Territory or of the Commonwealth, including but not limited to any of the following:

the Attorney General of New South Wales, of another State or Territory or of the Commonwealth,

the Director of Public Prosecutions of New South Wales, of another State or Territory or of the Commonwealth,

the Commissioner of Police of New South Wales or the holder of a similar position in another State or Territory,

the Commissioner of Police in the Australian Federal Police,

the New South Wales Crime Commission,

the Independent Commission Against Corruption,

the Australian Crime Commission,

the Trade Practices Commission,

the Australian Securities Commission,

a task force set up to investigate any matters relating to breaches of law and arising out of the inquiry conducted by the commission.

The reference in this section to a task force is limited to a State task force or a joint task force. A State task force is one set up by the State or an authority of the State. A joint task force is one set up jointly by the State or an authority of the State and by one or more other Australian jurisdictions or their authorities. An Australian jurisdiction is a State or Territory or the Commonwealth. Subject to the above provisions of this subsection, the expression “task force” includes a body of persons that is similar to a task force, however it is described.

Nothing in this section derogates from or affects any powers a commission has apart from this section, and it is not to be construed as limiting in any way any such power by implication or otherwise.