Commission of Inquiry (Coal Seam Gas) Bill 2017 [2017] AUSStaCSBSD 310 (13 September 2017)

• Commission of Inquiry (Coal Seam Gas) Bill 2017
• Coercive powers1

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Commission of Inquiry (Coal Seam Gas) Bill 2017

Purpose	This bill seeks to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the coal seam gas industry in Australia
Sponsor	Mr Bob Katter MP
Introduced	House of Representatives on 4 September 2017
Scrutiny principle	Standing Order 24(1)(a)(i)

Coercive powers^[1]

1.2 The bill seeks to establish a Commission of Inquiry (Coal Seam Gas), and clause 11 provides that the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (the RC Act) and regulations made under that Act, apply in relation to the Commission as if the Commission were a Royal Commission.

1.3 The committee notes that the RC Act contains some significant coercive powers, including powers to summon witnesses and take evidence.^[2] Under the RC Act, hearings may be open or closed, or restricted to certain classes of persons.^[3] It is an offence to fail to give evidence or produce documents to a Royal Commission if a person is summonsed to appear or produce documents.^[4] When giving evidence, which may be on oath or affirmation, a person is not excused from answering a question on the grounds of self-incrimination, or other grounds of confidentiality.^[5] These broad powers granted to a Royal Commission are not ordinarily available to other agencies of government. In addition, section 6O(2) of the RC Act purports to confer on certain Royal Commissioners the same powers as a judge sitting in court to determine certain forms of contempt. Section 6B(1) also provides that the President or Chair of a Royal Commission may issue a warrant for the arrest of a person, if the person has been served with a summons to attend the Commission as a witness but fails to attend the Commission in answer to the summons.

1.4 The committee generally expects that where a bill seeks to confer coercive powers on bodies, the explanatory materials should address the principles set out in chapters 7–10 of the Guide to Framing Commonwealth Offences.^[6] In this instance, the explanatory materials do not address the need for the proposed Commission to have each of these significant coercive powers.

1.5 The committee draws its scrutiny concerns to the attention of Senators and leaves to the Senate as a whole the appropriateness of enabling the proposed Commission of Inquiry (Coal Seam Gas) to exercise the significant coercive powers in the Royal Commissions Act 1902.

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[1] Clause 11. The committee draws Senators' attention to this provision pursuant to principle 1(a)(i) of the committee's terms of reference.

[2] Royal Commissions Act 1902, section 2.

[3] Royal Commissions Act 1902, section 6D(5).

[4] Royal Commissions Act 1902, sections 3 and 6B.

[5] Royal Commissions Act 1902, section 6A.

[6] Attorney-General's Department, A Guide to Framing Commonwealth Offences, Infringement Notices and Enforcement Powers, September 2011, Chapters 7–10.