Mr SLIPPER (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) (9:47 AM) — I move:

This HIH Royal Commission (Transfer of Records) Bill 2003 provides for the transfer of the custody of certain records of the HIH Royal Commission to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. This transfer is necessary to ensure that ASIC is able to pursue efficiently and expeditiously the referrals of possible breaches of the law made to it following the HIH Royal Commission.

The HIH Royal Commission was established at the government's instigation following the financial collapse of the HIH Insurance Group in March 2001. The collapse affected individuals, community groups, and the public generally.

The HIH Royal Commission's terms of reference explicitly stated that the commission was to inquire into the possibility of breaches of law and whether possible criminal or other legal proceedings should be referred to the relevant agency.

On 16 April 2003, the government released the report from the Royal Commissioner, the Hon. Justice Neville Owen.

The report identified a number of possible breaches of the Corporations Law. The commissioner indicated that these matters should be referred to ASIC for investigation and preparation of possible civil prosecutions.

On releasing the HIH Royal Commission report, the government indicated that it would immediately act on these referrals. To this end, a taskforce was established under the direction of ASIC to examine the referrals and prepare briefs for possible proceedings.

The government took action in the 2003-04 Budget to support ASIC in its task. The government committed an additional $28.2 million in funding for ASIC over the next two years. This funding is to be used by ASIC to undertake investigations and prepare briefs for civil prosecutions.

This bill will further assist ASIC's work. It has three key elements.

First, the bill will provide for the transfer of records of the HIH Royal Commission to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. The records to be transferred to ASIC will be limited to those that were produced to the Royal Commission. This limitation excludes records produced by persons employed or retained by the Royal Commission, ensuring that internal Royal Commission records are not transferred to ASIC.

The transfer facilitated by the bill will provide ASIC access to, and subsequent use of, Royal Commission records and avoid potentially lengthy procedural requirements and legal uncertainties that could hamper the effective investigation of those matters identified by Justice Owen.

In the absence of the bill, the Commonwealth would be required to notify the owner of the records of the transfer to ASIC and provide them with the opportunity to object. This requirement would result in a lengthy and expensive process of settling any objections to the transfer. The process could be used to frustrate the expeditious investigation and prosecution of potential offences by ASIC.

Second, the bill will ensure that ASIC is able to use the records for the purposes of performing its functions and powers. Importantly, this will also allow ASIC to transmit or copy the records within its custody to other Commonwealth institutions, such as the Director of Public Prosecutions, in support of their functions and powers.

Third, the bill will explicitly maintain the existing protections that attach to the records transferred to ASIC. Therefore, the protections for individuals against self-incrimination that would usually apply to the records of a royal commission will be maintained.

In addition, any right to claim legal professional privilege over the transferred records will also be preserved. As a further safeguard, the transferred records will also be afforded the same confidentiality as information collected by ASIC in the course of its operations.

This bill will assist the corporate regulator to investigate a number of serious potential breaches of the Corporations Law while maintaining the safeguards that are due and appropriate under Australian law.

I commend this bill to the House and present the explanatory memorandum.

Debate (on motion by Mr Latham) adjourned.