Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) Where the
Commissioner has decided to investigate any matter under this Act —
(a) the
Commissioner has all the powers, rights and privileges that are specified in
the Royal Commissions Act 1968 , as appertaining to a Royal Commission and the
Chairman thereof; and
(b) all
the provisions of that Act have effect as if they were enacted in this Act and
in terms made applicable to the Commissioner and that matter as if the matter
were one into which a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire under that
Act.
(2A) No obligation to
maintain secrecy or other restriction upon the disclosure of information
obtained by or furnished to persons in the service of the Crown or any
authority to which this Act applies, whether imposed by any enactment or by
any rule of law, applies to the disclosure of information for the purposes of
an investigation by the Commissioner under this Act.
(2AA) No obligation to
maintain secrecy or other restriction upon the disclosure of information
obtained by or furnished to the head of a relevant entity or an investigator
conducting an investigation under Division 3B, whether imposed by any
enactment or by any rule of law, applies to the disclosure of information for
the purposes of an investigation by the Commissioner under this Act.
(2B) The Crown, any
authority to which this Act applies or a relevant entity is not entitled in
relation to any investigation by the Commissioner under this Act to any such
privilege in respect of the production of documents or the giving of evidence
as is allowed by law in legal proceedings.
(3) Subject to
subsections (2A), (2AA) and (2B), a person is not compelled for the purposes
of an investigation by the Commissioner under this Act to give any evidence or
produce any document that the person could not be compelled to give or produce
in proceedings before a court.
[Section 20 amended: No. 68 of 1976 s. 6; No. 19
of 2010 s. 51; No. 25 of 2022 s. 9.]