Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

This is the issue in relation to requests from original owners of the documents and whether they are able to make such a request of the custodian. It may be that the departmental officials can advise whether that can be done via the regulations but, to my knowledge, it looks as though we may need to make some sort of technical amendment to do that. Given the rush of getting this matter through both the House and the Senate, I assume it would be desirable for that amendment to be moved in the House rather than having to have it moved in the Senate and returned. So I hope the government will take note of that.

The bill will also allow, but not require, such regulations to impose conditions to be complied with by the custodian of the records, or persons and bodies to whom the records are given or who are allowed access to the records. The bill makes it clear that the protection in section 6DD of the Royal Commissions Act against self-incrimination is maintained, which is contained in the proposed new section 9(12), and that legal professional privilege is not affected by any regulations that might be made under these amendments, which can be found in proposed section 9(13), although legal professional privilege is the subject of a separate recommendation by the commissioner and has in fact been referred by the government to the Australian Law Reform Commission.

The bill also specifies that regulations will apply in respect of records of any royal commission, including royal commissions which have reported before the commencement of the amendments. We are told that this is required as the oil for food commission is now technically also a past commission, having completed its work and reported to the government. As I noted earlier, we have been assured by the government, and I would like this to be on the record—again, perhaps the parliamentary secretary will be able to make some comments in his summing up to confirm what I have been advised—that there is no intention for this regulation making power to be used for any commissions further back in history.

The primary feature of the bill, therefore, is to provide a framework to allow royal commission records to be used, obviously with the addition of the amendments the government has flagged it will move, for law enforcement purposes without needing additional legislation and without any prior need to notify or consult with persons who might be adversely affected by the release and use of the records.

As I stated earlier, the introduction of the Royal Commissions Amendment (Records) Bill 2006 has been triggered by the findings of the Report of the Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-for-food Programmecommonly known as the Cole inquiry. Regulations made under this bill will apparently assist the task force that is being established—as recommended by the Cole commission to be set up—to investigate and consider possible prosecutions against those persons named who may have breached Australian laws. The Labor Party stands ready to assist and support, putting beyond doubt the handling of these documents to ensure that any task force can deal with the AWB matters expeditiously.

Before concluding, having described what the bill and the latest amendments will do, I want to make it absolutely clear to the House what this bill will not do. The bill will not uncover the whole truth about the government’s involvement in the wheat for weapons scandal. The bill will not reveal the extent of the government’s cover-up of this issue, nor will it uncover what Minister Downer or Minister Vaile actually knew about the AWB kickbacks to the Iraqi regime. The bill does not rectify the government’s shameful lack of commitment to a full, open and transparent inquiry into what really happened with this scandal and what knowledge the government had of it.

This bill may assist those now confronting the mammoth task of investigating whether any crimes have been committed or of preparing for prosecution, but it will do nothing to hold the government to account for this whole sorry episode. Despite the bill’s obvious limits and pending the assurances that have been given by the government that it will move the amendments that have been distributed to members this morning and that accept Labor’s request to limit this bill to law enforcement matters, Labor is prepared to offer its support for the urgent passage of this bill. We will confirm that, of course, when the government has moved its amendments formally in this place.

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