[no bill text published] Complaint Rights and Coercive Powers for Investigating Judicial Officers

Judicial Commission Bill 2026

1st House

2nd House

Law

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Anyone can make a complaint to the Commission about a judicial officer's conduct; this includes complaints about their mental or physical capacity to work.
The Commission can compel a person to provide information or documents during a preliminary examination.
Fines of $6,000 apply to people who fail to provide information or documents without a reasonable excuse.
Investigating panels can issue summonses to force people to give evidence or produce documents.
The presiding member of an investigating panel can issue arrest warrants for people who ignore a summons.
Supreme Court judges can issue search warrants for premises, vehicles, vessels or aircraft to find relevant material.
Fines of $24,000 apply to people who induce witnesses to give false testimony or withhold truth.
Fines of $24,000 apply to people who wilfully prevent a summoned witness from attending or producing evidence.

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