Neil Laurie

It is not uncommon for the activities of ad hoc and permanent commissions of inquiry to be the subject of judicial review. But the series of decisions that culminated in the very recent High Court decision of Crime and Corruption Commission v Carne [2023] HCA 28 requires special attention as they deal with the intersection of judicial review of a permanent commission of inquiry’s report provided to its parliamentary oversight committee, thereby potentially raising issues of parliamentary privilege.

Anton Moiseienko

In 2020, the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) held an inquiry into the potential introduction of corruption and human rights sanctions, also referred to as ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions. The inquiry culminated in a report calling on the government to ‘enact stand alone …

Yee-Fui Ng

Yet another rorts scandal is swirling around the federal government, dubbed the ‘car park rorts’ affair. The Auditor-General has reported that a $389 million car park construction fund has been administered ineffectively and that the Minister had distributed the grants with ‘inadequate assessment’ for eligibility (at [25]). The Auditor-General’s …