Barker Rick: Police Complaints Authority (Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Barker Rick: Police Complaints Authority (Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:12870] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 I want to add to the good quality contribution made by Mr Ryall. I have not been directly involved with this legislation but I have read the select committee’s commentary very carefully. I find it to be a very good commentary. 
Before going on to that I will start with a couple of comments from the terms of reference to the commission of inquiry which are very pertinent to the issue. The commission of inquiry’s terms of reference state in the words of the Governor-General: “And you are strictly charged and directed that you may not at any time publish or otherwise disclose except to me in pursuance of this order or by my direction the contents or purport of any report so made or to be made by you or any evidence or information obtained by you in exercise of the powers conferred upon you except such evidence or information as is received in the course of a sitting open to the public:”. So the Governor-General’s requirement of the commission is to maintain its confidentiality.  
There are several other things that need to be clear about this. The commission of inquiry has the same authority to hear in private as a High Court. As the commission of inquiry is led by a High Court judge it has the powers of a High Court and the authority of the Judicature Act. It has widespread powers and there is an overwhelming concern within the terms of reference for the commission of inquiry that the confidentiality of people is to be protected. We have faith in the people on that commission.  
The second point I wish to make is in the report of the select committee which I thought was very good. It states quite clearly: “The Commission is still bound by the principles of natural justice in considering evidence placed before it. Any person who provides information to the Authority will have protections and that information cannot subsequently be used against them in any proceedings”. So there are natural justice provisions in the bill.  
The second issue raised in the select committee report approaches the issue raised in the United Future amendment about the suppression of information. The amendment tabled by the United Future MP seeks to have all the information concealed from the start and to be revealed only when the commission says so. Now the commission has the presumption of openness unless it states that it should not. The select committee considered the matter very carefully and in its report it states: “We consider that legislated automatic suppression of information obtained may open up the Commission and Parliament to criticism as it could be seen as compelling the Commission to operate in secrecy. We also consider that the Commission itself is best placed to make the decisions on whether or not to suppress information.”  
So there is an issue here of public confidence in the commission of inquiry. Mr Ryall noted that very clearly in his presentation saying that the public has to have confidence in the commission of inquiry which has to be seen to be open in its dealings. If the presumption is towards secrecy in our view and in the committee’s view that seems to be the wrong message to be giving the public. But the terms of reference are to treat that information very very carefully.  
There are a couple of issues in the point made by Mr Franks. There are two statutory authorities--the Police Complaints Authority and the commission of inquiry. The first reason for some disquiet about Mr Franks’ amendment is that Parliament itself should not be indicating to one statutory authority how to deal with the other. We believe that the commission of inquiry has a very clear mandate from the Governor-General about how it is to treat the information who it is to report to and the way the information is to be reported. That should not be subject to any other advice by the Police Complaints Authority.  
The purpose of the bill is quite simple. It is to give the commission of inquiry access to information held by the Police Complaints Authority. Without access to that information the commission of inquiry cannot function properly and the public would have no confidence in it. Having got the information there is adequate guidance to the commission of inquiry in the terms of reference given by the Governor-General as to how it is to handle that information.