Courts and tribunals

Courts and tribunals resolve disputes between private individuals or organisations, or between private individuals or organisations and the government. Strict rules of procedure and evidence generally apply and matters must be proved beyond reasonable doubt (in criminal matters) or on the balance of probabilities (in civil matters). An impartial arbiter (usually a judge or magistrate) makes formal findings on the evidence presented and resolves the dispute between the parties by making binding orders.

A royal commission, conversely, is guided by the terms of reference and is not bound by the rules or practices of court as to procedure or evidence. Courts are adversarial, whereas royal commissions are inquisitorial, investigating matters and gathering evidence as they see fit. Royal commissions cannot make binding orders. They can only make recommendations to the government about systemic, structural or policy matters that need changing.

Coroner’s inquests

Coronial inquests are much more similar to royal commissions than court or tribunal proceedings. They are inquisitorial in nature, with the Coroner similarly empowered to gather evidence, present findings and make recommendations.

The main difference is that coronial inquests are held to determine the cause or circumstances of a person’s death or disappearance or a fire or accident that causes injury to a person or property. Inquests in South Australia are governed by the Coroners Act 2003 (SA) and are much more confined than royal commissions. Recommendations will usually be directed towards actions that might prevent or reduce the likelihood of the death or incident the subject of the inquest.

Other government reviews, investigations, inquiries and taskforces

State and federal governments often conduct reviews and inquiries or establish taskforces to examine particular areas of concern. Royal commissions are the highest form of inquiry in Australia, with the greatest independence, broadest investigatory powers and a high standard of openness and accountability.

Parliament and parliamentary committees

Parliament is made up of elected officials who make laws and represent their constituents. Parliamentary committees scrutinise laws and inquire into matters of public interest for the purposes of recommending legislative or policy reform.

Like parliamentary committees, royal commissions can make recommendations about law reform that may be implemented by parliament. However, royal commissions cannot make laws, and royal commissioners are impartial and do not represent any particular political party, agenda or subset of the community.

Other government commissions

There are a number of statutory authorities also called ‘commissions’, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission and of course the Legal Services Commission. These are independent authorities funded by Government with broad functions, powers and ongoing roles. Royal commissions are temporary, established for a specific investigatory purpose and usually cease to exist once they have reported.