The Australian Law Reform Commission has called for a new tier of public enquiry to be established to provide an alternative to Royal Commissions.
Following a nine-month enquiry, the ALRC’s report Making Inquiries: A New Statutory Framework makes 82 recommendations for reform.
ALRC suggests second level probes
President of the ALRC, Professor Rosalind Croucher said a key recommendation was to amend the Commissions Act 1902 (Cth) and rename it the Inquiries Act to establish the two tiers of public inquiry - Royal Commissions and Official Inquiries, each with defined coercive and investigatory powers.
“Whenever there are controversial issues that cannot be satisfactorily dealt with by the Courts or the political process, there are inevitably calls for a Royal Commission,” Professor Croucher said, “although not all such issues warrant such an elaborate inquiry.”
“Royal Commissions should be reserved for the highest form of inquiry dealing with matters of substantial public importance, which may warrant the abrogation of certain privileges and protections, such as the right against self-incrimination.
“Official Inquiries would provide a more streamlined, cost-effective and flexible alternative to resolve matters of public importance, but which do not require extraordinary powers, such as those abrogating fundamental protections available to inquiry participants.”
She said other ALRC recommendations focused on openness and accountability including the publication of inquiry reports and monitoring resulting activities.
“While accepting or rejecting recommendations made by an inquiry will always be a matter for the Australian Government, it should be required to publish an update on the implementation of recommendations of an inquiry that it accepts,” Professor Croucher said.
“This should happen one year after the tabling of a final report of a Royal Commission or Official Inquiry, and periodically thereafter, to reflect any ongoing implementation activity.”
The ALRC also called for new legislation to ensure the prompt tabling of Royal Commission and Official Inquiry reports in Parliament; the publication of a summary of costs of Royal Commissions and Official Inquiries; and a framework for the protection of protected national security information utilised in proceedings.
Attorney-General, Robert McClelland said the Government had commissioned the report following issues identified in the Report of the Inquiry into the Case of Dr Mohamed Haneef which needed more detailed exploration.
Mr McClelland said the Government would carefully consider the ALRC’s report, which was available from www.alrc.gov.au
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