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