Senate

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Prime Minister, the Honourable Scott Morrison MP)

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared for the purposes of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

10. The amendments are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of the amendments

11. The amendments remove provisions in the Bill permitting a Chair of a multi-member Commission, or sole Commissioner, to authorise appropriately qualified and senior members of staff of a Royal Commission, referred to as Assistant Commissioners, to hold private sessions.

12. The effect of the amendments is that only a sole Commissioner, the Chair of a multi-member Commission, or a Commissioner authorised by the Chair may hold private sessions. This approach is consistent with the private session regime adopted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Human rights implications

13. The amendments do not affect the analysis of human rights issues set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.

Conclusion

14. This Bill as amended is compatible with human rights as it promotes the right to privacy and, to the extent that it limits the right to freedom of expression, the limitations are reasonable, necessary and proportionate. It does not engage or limit the right to fair trial and hearing.