Inquire Australia seminar, 16 June 2016

Melinda Richards SC

Royal Commissions

A historical perspective

The Domesday Survey

The first Royal Commission

The Tudor Era

Commission of Enclosures, 1517

Dissolution, by CJ Sansom

The rise of Parliament

Triennial Act 1641

Habeas Corpus Act 1641

The great era of Royal Commissions

Nineteenth century

Early colonial inquiries

Victoriana

Boards of inquiry

The Irvine convention

Federation

Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth)

The High Court and Royal Commissions

Clough v Leahy (1904) 2 CLR 139

Victoria v BLF (1982) 152 CLR 25

Life after the final report

Standing commissions

Implementation monitors

Modern times – some themes

• Partisan politics

• Disasters

• Reconciliation

• Justice

• Wicked problems