Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fowler for her amendments. Just to deal with the existing provisions of the bill: where the commissioner holds a public hearing, the bill already provides that the commissioner will be able to make a statement about the circumstances and capacity in which a witness is giving evidence if the commissioner thinks it's appropriate to do so. This is an important reputational safeguard and would, for example, enable the commissioner to make a statement that a witness is appearing voluntarily and is not the subject of the corruption investigation—in other words, that a witness before the commission is just a witness of fact, that the witness is not being investigated. Clear statements from the commissioner is what we have in mind.

The commissioner could also make other public statements to avoid undue reputational damage. An example would be a statement that the investigation is not yet complete or, for example, making a statement that no finding of corruption has been made against a particular person. All of this will appropriately be left to the discretion of the commissioner and, in the view of the government, does not need to be specified in the legislation.

On the other matter that's raised by the member for Fowler's amendment, the bill already provides for the commissioner to include nondisclosure notations in a notice to produce information or a private hearing summons in certain circumstances, such as where not doing so might prejudice a person's safety or reputation or a fair trial. The notation may specify circumstances in which the disclosure of information is permitted. This would allow the commissioner to permit a person to disclose information about their participation in a corruption investigation to a spouse or a family member in appropriate circumstances. This will be appropriately left to the discretion of the commissioner and does not need to be specified in the legislation.

On the matter of disclosure to mental health professionals, the government does recognise the importance of ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the mental health and wellbeing of those who are the subject of, or otherwise involved in, corruption investigations. This includes ensuring that persons in that category are able to access support from a medical practitioner or psychologist or psychiatrist. The government has moved amendments to ensure that, where a person is issued a notice to produce or a summons with a nondisclosure notation, the person will be able to disclose information that's covered by the notation to a medical practitioner or a psychologist for the purpose of obtaining medical or psychiatric care, treatment or counselling, including psychological counselling. The government does not support this amendment.

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