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House of Representatives                                Ch 18                                                 p 666

Withdrawal, alteration, destruction or return of documents

No submission received by the secretary of a committee may be withdrawn or altered without the knowledge and approval of the committee. ¹ A submission becomes the property of a committee as soon as it is received by the secretary or by a member of the committee itself. Normally, unless a committee did not wish to receive a submission (for example, on the grounds that it was not relevant to the committee’s inquiry— see below ) the committee would resolve formally to receive written submissions as evidence at an early opportunity.

It is standard practice for committee chairs to ask a witness at a hearing whether the witness wishes to amend his or her submission in any way. Witnesses may use this opportunity to draw attention to inaccuracies or omissions. A committee secretary may not change the substance of a submission at the request of the originator, or on the secretary’s own initiative, without the express approval of the committee. Where a committee decides to take oral evidence from a witness it is normal for the witness to be given the opportunity to supplement or amend a submission ( see p. 695 ).

Committees may agree to return documents to witnesses. In 1977 the Standing Committee on Expenditure agreed to return voluminous confidential documents to a department which was concerned about their security. The documents were returned only after the department gave an undertaking that the committee would be granted ready access to them whenever it decided it needed to see them. ²

It is a sound principle that the House, in considering a committee’s report, should have ready access to the evidence upon which the report was based. This would suggest the need for a committee to exercise the utmost caution in considering the destruction of evidence presented to it, even after the House has received the committee’s report.

A committee could resolve to return a submission or other document lodged with it if, for example, the submission was considered irrelevant to the committee’s inquiry ³ or if it contained offensive or possibly scurrilous material. A rejected submission would cease to be the property of the committee and any further circulation of it would not attract privilege. In most circumstances it would be more appropriate for the committee to retain the document, not use it in its deliberations and not authorise its publication. By virtue of standing order 242(b), the fact that the document has not been published by the committee or, subsequently, by the House would preclude anyone from publishing the document as a submission to the committee without some risk in terms of the law of contempt of the House. Anyone who published a submission which had not been authorised for publication would not have the protection this would confer, and would therefore not be immune from any legal proceedings for such publication. Whether or not qualified privilege would apply would depend upon the circumstances (for example, publishers’ intentions). It is highly unlikely that the House would give its protection to a person who had ignored the desire of a committee that a defamatory document remain unpublished.

And see May , 23rd edn, p. 758.

More examples are listed at pages 648-9 of the 4th edition.

Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, minutes 14.11.90.