Commonwealth Numbered Acts

NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY ACT 1984 No. 41, 1984 - SECT 30

30. (1) A person served, as prescribed, with a summons to appear as a witness
at a hearing before the Authority shall not, without reasonable excuse-

   (a)  fail to attend as required by the summons; or

   (b)  fail to attend from day to day unless excused, or released from
        further attendance, by a member or an acting member.

(2) A person appearing as a witness at a hearing before the Authority shall
not, without reasonable excuse-

   (a)  when required pursuant to section 28 either to take an oath or make an
        affirmation-refuse or fail to comply with the requirement;

   (b)  refuse or fail to answer a question that he is required to answer by
        the member or acting member presiding at the hearing; or

   (c)  refuse or fail to produce a document or thing that he was required to
        produce by a summons under this Act served on him as prescribed.

(3) Where-

   (a)  a legal practitioner is required to answer a question or produce a
        document at a hearing before the Authority; and

   (b)  the answer to the question would disclose, or the document contains, a
        privileged communication made by or to the legal practitioner in his
        capacity as a legal practitioner, the legal practitioner is entitled
        to refuse to comply with the requirement unless the person to whom or
        by whom the communication was made agrees to the legal practitioner
        complying with the requirement but, where the legal practitioner
        refuses to comply with the requirement, he shall, if so required by
        the member or acting member presiding at the hearing, furnish to the
        Authority the name and address of the person to whom or by whom the
        communication was made.

(4) Subject to sub-sections (5), (7) and (9), it is a reasonable excuse for
the purposes of sub-section (2) for a natural person-

   (a)  to refuse or fail to answer a question put to him at a hearing before
        the Authority; or

   (b)  to refuse or fail to produce a document or thing that he was required
        to produce at a hearing before the Authority, that the answer to the
        question, or the production of the document or thing, as the case may
        be, might tend to incriminate him.

(5) It is not a reasonable excuse for the purposes of sub-section (2) for a
person-

   (a)  to refuse or fail to answer a question put to him at a hearing before
        the Authority; or

   (b)  to refuse or fail to produce a document or thing that he was required
        to produce at a hearing before the Authority, that the answer to the
        question or the production of the document or thing might tend to
        prove his guilt of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of
        a Territory if the Director of Public Prosecutions has given to the
        person an undertaking in writing that any answer given or document or
        thing produced, as the case may be, or any information, document or
        thing obtained as a direct or indirect consequence of the answer or
        the production of the first-mentioned document or thing, will not be
        used in evidence in any proceedings against him for an offence against
        a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory other than proceedings in
        respect of the falsity of evidence given by the person and the
        Director of Public Prosecutions states in the undertaking-

   (c)  that, in his opinion, there are special grounds that in the public
        interest require that answers be given or documents or things be
        produced by that person; and

   (d)  the general nature of those grounds.

(6) The Authority may recommend to the Director of Public Prosecutions that a
person who has been or is to be served with a summons to appear as a witness
at a hearing before the Authority or to produce a document or thing at a
hearing before the Authority be given an undertaking in accordance with
sub-section (5).

(7) It is not a reasonable excuse for the purposes of sub-section (2) for a
person-

   (a)  to refuse or fail to answer a question put to him at a hearing before
        the Authority; or

   (b)  to refuse or fail to produce a document or thing that he was required
        to produce at a hearing before the Authority, that the answer to the
        question or the production of the document or thing might tend to
        prove his guilt of an offence against a law of a State if the
        Attorney-General of that State, or a person authorized by him, being
        the person holding the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, or a
        similar office, of that State, has given to the person an undertaking
        in writing that any answer given or document or thing produced, as the
        case may be, or any information, document or thing obtained as a
        direct or indirect consequence of the answer or the production of the
        first-mentioned document or thing, will not be used in evidence in any
        proceedings against him for an offence against a law of that State
        other than proceedings in respect of the falsity of evidence given by
        the person and the Attorney-General of that State, or the person so
        authorized, states in the undertaking-

   (c)  that, in his opinion, there are special grounds that in the public
        interest require that answers be given or documents or things be
        produced by that person; and

   (d)  the general nature of those grounds.

(8) The Authority may recommend to the Attorney-General of a State that a
person who has been or is to be served with a summons to appear as a witness
at a hearing before the Authority or to produce a document or thing at a
hearing before the Authority be given an undertaking in accordance with
sub-section (7).

(9) For the purposes of sub-section (2)-

   (a)  it is not a reasonable excuse for a corporation to refuse or fail to
        produce a document or thing that the production of the document or
        thing might tend to incriminate the corporation; and

   (b)  it is not a reasonable excuse for a natural person to refuse or fail
        to produce a document that is, or forms part of, a record of an
        existing or past business (not being, in the case of a person who is
        or has been an employee, a document that sets out details of earnings
        received by the person in respect of his employment and does not set
        out any other information) that the production of the document might
        tend to incriminate the person.

(10) Sub-sections (5), (7) and (9) do not apply where the offence in respect
of which the answer to a question or the production of a document or thing, as
the case requires, might tend to incriminate a person is an offence with which
the person has been charged and the charge has not been finally dealt with by
a court or otherwise disposed of.

(11) A person who contravenes sub-section (1), (2) or (3) is guilty of an
offence punishable, upon conviction, by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or
imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months.