Commonwealth Numbered Regulations Commonwealth Numbered Regulations(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person appears as a witness at a hearing of a Commission; and
(b) the person fails or refuses to answer a question put to that person by:
(i) a COI member of the Commission; or
(ii) a legal practitioner appointed under section 10 to assist the Commission; or
(iii) a person permitted by the President of the Commission under section 23 to examine the person; and
(c) the question is relevant to the Commission's inquiry; and
(d) the President requires the person to answer the question.
Penalty: 20 penalty units.
(2) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person attends as a witness before a COI assistant of a Commission to give evidence; and
(b) the person fails or refuses to answer a question put to that person by the COI assistant; and
(c) the question is relevant to the Commission's inquiry; and
(d) the COI assistant requires the person to answer the question.
Penalty: 20 penalty units.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply if:
(a) the person appears as a witness at a hearing of a Commission or attends as a witness before a COI assistant of a Commission to give evidence; and
(b) the person fails or refuses to answer a question; and
(c) the person believes on reasonable grounds that the answer to the question is likely to cause damage to the defence, security or international relations of the Commonwealth.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters mentioned in subsection (3) (see section 13.3 of the Criminal Code ).