Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by the authority of the Honourable Lionel Bowen MP Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General)GENERAL OUTLINE
The Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 will be amended to enable the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry to have access to taxation information on the same basis, and subject to the same restrictions on further disclosure of the information, as applies to taxation information disclosed to a Commonwealth Royal Commission with the exception that the information may be further disclosed in certain proceedings for the restraining or confiscation of the proceeds of crime.
The Royal Commissions Act 1902 will be amended to ensure that a statement or disclosure made by a witness to the Fitzgerald Inquiry is not admissible against the witness in criminal proceedings instituted under a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory) or in civil proceedings instituted by, or on behalf of, the Commonwealth.
The amendments to the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 will enable information obtained as a result of interceptions of telecommunications to be given to Commissioner Fitzgerald, and for evidence to be given to the Fitzgerald Inquiry in relation to such information. The amendments will permit further use of such information for the purposes of investigating serious offences and any resulting prosecutions. The amendments will also enable the Australian Federal Police to continue to be able to obtain information obtained as a result of lawful interceptions, for a purpose connected with the investigation of serious offences. Under the Act as it now stands, this information is available to the AFP. Further amendments being made to the Act will enable evidence to be given, in proceedings begun before the commencement of section 21 of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1987, of information obtained by interceptions carried out before the commencement of that section whether or not in contravention of the Act. These amendments will not affect a court's discretion whether or not to admit illegally obtained evidence.