NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY (STATE PROVISIONS) ACT 1985 - SECT 16

This legislation has been repealed.

NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY (STATE PROVISIONS) ACT 1985 - SECT 16

16 .         Hearings

        (1)         For the purposes of a special investigation the Authority may hold hearings.

        (2)         At a hearing, the Authority may be constituted by one or more members.

        (3)         The Chairperson shall preside at all hearings at which the Chairperson is present.

        (3a)         If the Chairperson is not present at a hearing at which there are 2 or more members, the members present shall elect one of their number to preside at that hearing.

        (3b)         Questions arising at a hearing shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present.

        (3c)         The person presiding at a hearing has a deliberative vote, and, if necessary, also has a casting vote.

        (3d)         The Authority may regulate the conduct of proceedings at a hearing as it thinks fit.

        (4)         At a hearing before the Authority —

            (a)         a person giving evidence may be represented by a legal practitioner; and

            (b)         if, by reason of the existence of special circumstances, the Authority consents to a person who is not giving evidence being represented by a legal practitioner — the person may be so represented.

        (5)         A hearing before the Authority shall be held in private and the Authority may give directions as to the persons who may be present during the hearing or a part of the hearing.

        (6)         Nothing in a direction given by the Authority under subsection (5) prevents the presence, when evidence is being taken at a hearing before the Authority, of —

            (a)         a person representing the person giving evidence; or

            (b)         a person representing, pursuant to subsection (4), a person who, by reason of a direction given by the Authority under subsection (5), is entitled to be present.

        (7)         Where a hearing before the Authority is being held, a person (other than a member or a member of the staff of the Authority approved by the Authority) shall not be present at the hearing unless the person is entitled to be present by reason of a direction given by the Authority under subsection (5) or by reason of subsection (6).

        (8)         At a hearing before the Authority for the purposes of a special investigation —

            (a)         counsel assisting the Authority generally or in relation to the matter to which the investigation relates;

            (b)         any person authorized by the Authority to appear before it at the hearing; or

            (c)         any legal practitioner representing a person at the hearing pursuant to subsection (4),

                may, so far as the Authority thinks appropriate, examine or cross-examine any witness on any matter that the Authority considers relevant to the special investigation.

        (9)         The Authority may direct that —

            (a)         any evidence given before it;

            (b)         the contents of any document, or a description of any thing, produced to the Authority or seized pursuant to a warrant issued under section 12 ;

            (c)         any information that might enable a person who has given evidence before the Authority to be identified; or

            (d)         the fact that any person has given or may be about to give evidence at a hearing,

                shall not be published, or shall not be published except in such manner, and to such persons, as the Authority specifies, and the Authority shall give such a direction if the failure to do so might prejudice the safety or reputation of a person or prejudice the fair trial of a person who has been or may be charged with an offence.

        (9a)         Subject to subsection (9b), the Chairperson may, in writing, vary or revoke a direction under subsection (9).

        (9b)         The Chairperson shall not vary or revoke a direction if to do so might prejudice the safety or reputation of a person or prejudice the fair trial of a person who has been or may be charged with an offence.

        (10)         Where —

            (a)         a person has been charged with an offence before a court of the State; and

            (b)         the court considers that it may be desirable in the interests of justice that particular evidence given before the Authority, being evidence in relation to which the Authority has given a direction under subsection (9), be made available to the person or to a legal practitioner representing the person,

                the court may give to the Authority a certificate to that effect and, if the court does so, the Authority shall make the evidence available to the Court.

        (11)         Where —

            (a)         the Authority makes evidence available to a court in accordance with subsection (10);

                and

            (b)         the court, after examining the evidence, is satisfied that the interests of justice so require,

                the court may make the evidence available to the person charged with the offence concerned or to a legal practitioner representing the person.

        (12)         A person who —

            (a)         is present at a hearing in contravention of subsection (7); or

            (b)         makes a publication in contravention of a direction given under subsection (9),

                is guilty of an offence punishable, upon conviction, by a fine not exceeding $2 000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year.

        [Section 16 amended by No. 60 of 1988 s.4; No. 13 of 1995 s.10.]