The Cole Royal Commission into AWB sales of wheat to Iraq once again draws attention to questions of when should governments resort to ad hoc inquiries and, in particular, establish royal commissions with their associated prestige and statutory powers to call and examine witnesses and require presentation of documents. In this article, Dr Scott Prasser, author of ‘Royal Commisions and Public Inquiries in Australia (Lexis Nexis 2006) examines the use of royal commissions and other investigatory/inquisitorial instruments of executive government by Commonwealth and state governments.
Utilisation of public inquiries and royal commissions in Westminster systems of government is a source of continuing interest. That royal commissions continue to be appointed when there is an increasing array of other institutions governments can now employ and given that royal commission reports often have very adverse impacts on the appointing governments, remains a key issue. So the appointment by the Queensland government of not one, but two royal commissions in 2005 into the same topic -the recruitment and performance of doctors recruited abroad working in Queensland public hospitals -provides a special opportunity to analyse the circumstances in which a royal commission mechanism is activated. That one of these royal commissions had to be disbanded because of legal action taken by several of those being investigated is another reason to assess these royal commissions. This is almost without precedent in Australia and has implications for the future conduct of such bodies. Lastly, how the Queensland government was able to minimise the blame from the subsequent royal commission's highly critical report, is also instructive and worthy of assessment.
Public inquiries are a distinctive and increasingly important part of Australian government. Many reasons can be advanced for their study, and a number of questions arise about their role. From one perspective many are bodies of political convenience. But this does not necessarily demean their role in the policy process. Their continued use may reflect a malaise in the body politic, such as a distrust of government within the community or suspicions held by governments about their public servants. But they also indicate a continuing desire of all governments at least to appear to be rational. Although many reports are discarded, the inquiry process often has a lasting impact on the agenda of policy making while some reports continue to influence thinking about policy and administration for many years. Some guidelines are suggested for the future study of public inquiries.
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