Commonwealth Numbered Acts

ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS (NORTHERN TERRITORY) AMENDMENT ACT 1978 No. 21 of 1978 - SECT 17

17. After section 54 of the Principal Act the following sections are inserted:
Person wishing to give information, &c., to Commissioner
''54A. (1) Where a person present at a place where the Commissioner is
conducting an inquiry in pursuance of his functions under this Act indicates
to the Commissioner that he wishes to give information, or to produce
documents or other records, relating to the matter the subject of the inquiry,
the Commissioner may-

   (a)  if the person wishes to give information-administer an oath or
        affirmation to that person and examine that person on oath or
        affirmation; or

   (b)  if the person wishes to produce documents or other records-inspect,
        and make and retain copies of, or extracts from, those documents or
        other records.

''(2) A person shall not, without lawful excuse, refuse or fail to answer a
question put to him by the Commissioner in the course of an examination under
sub-section (1).

Penalty: $1,000.

''(3) A person is not excused from answering a question referred to in
sub-section (2) on the ground that the answer to the question might tend to
incriminate him or make him liable to a penalty, but his answer to any such
question is not admissible in evidence against him in proceedings other than
proceedings for an offence against that sub-section or section 54B.

''(4) A person being examined under sub-section (1) has the same protection,
and is, in addition to the penalty provided by sub-section (2), subject to the
same liabilities, as a witness in proceedings in the High Court. Person not to
furnish false information, &c.
''54B. A person shall not-

   (a)  make a statement to the Commissioner in the course of an examination
        under section 54 or 54A, being a statement that he knows to be false
        or misleading in a material particular; or

   (b)  produce to the Commissioner in the course of an inquiry conducted by
        the Commissioner in pursuance of his functions under this Act a
        document or other record that to his knowledge contains information
        that is false or misleading in a material particular.

Penalty: $1,000.''.