Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—I will sum up very briefly. I will deal with the amendment when I move it. I firstly thank honourable members for their contributions. In response to the member for Denison’s observations about access to records, the circumstances which he canvasses are ones that I struggle to see emerging in a practical context, to be honest. Normally when documents are obtained by royal commission the provider—the owner—of the documents will have kept a copy of them. The circumstances in which an original document would be needed would be ones where either the original was the only copy in existence, which is difficult to imagine in practical circumstances, or ones where the owner of the document had kept a copy of the document—which is the most likely circumstance—but for some reason or another needed an original copy.

Given that the focus of this legislation, particularly in light of the government amendments, is directed at making documentation available to law enforcement agencies, the circumstance in which the original is likely to be needed is in court proceedings—where it can either be subpoenaed in the usual course or, if it is a prosecution, be made available in the manner that the member and I are very familiar with.

I speak with some experience in royal commissions over the years, and it seems to me that it would be an unlikely set of circumstances where this would become an issue. Nonetheless, the government would expect a custodian to act reasonably in relation to any request from an owner of a record, and while there is a right for the custodian to retain possession under proposed section 9(10) in the amending bill, it is not mandatory and it is only for so long as the custodian considers it desirable for the purposes for which the custodian requires the record. Regulations are able to be made under proposed section 9(2)(c) and (d) under the amending bill, which states that the regulations:

(c)      may provide for the circumstances in which the custodian of Royal Commission records must, or may, give some or all of those records to other persons or bodies; and

(d)      may provide for the circumstances in which the custodian … must, or may, allow access to some or all of those records to other persons or bodies.

The government have carefully noted the concerns raised by the member for Denison. They do not strike me as being likely to arise in many cases, if any, and I believe they can be dealt with if circumstances arise where they would be material in the regulations created in respect of a particular royal commission.

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