EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Racial Discrimination Regulations
Statutory Rules 1987 No. 185
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Section 47 of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (“the Act”) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters that are required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 25T of the Act provides that a person summoned to appear before the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (“the Commission”) is entitled to be paid, in respect of the person’s attendance, fees and allowances for expenses, fixed by or in accordance with the regulations.
The effect of the Regulations is—to provide that the fees and allowances payable to a person under subsection 25T(1) of the Act are to be fixed by the Commission or the member of the Commission presiding at the inquiry in accordance with the scale in the Schedule to the Regulations. That scale generally reflects the fees and allowances which are specified in the Federal Court Rules.
Item 1 of the Schedule deals with attendance of expert witnesses, being persons summoned to give evidence because of their professional, scientific or other special skill or knowledge. Such a witness is to be paid in accordance with the scale specified in the Federal Court Rules for similar witnesses.
Item 2 of the Schedule deals with witnesses other than expert witnesses. These witnesses are to be paid the amount set in the Federal Court Rules and, in accordance, with those Rules, the amount payable will depend on whether the witness is a wage or salary earner or not.
Item 3 provides for payments of reasonable amounts for travel costs for a witness who lives more than 50 kilometres from the place where attendance is required and for payments for meals and accommodation if an overnight stay is necessary. Item 4 makes clear that, if a witness is attending before the Commission for more than one inquiry, that witness is only entitled to a proportion of the applicable fees and allowances for each of those inquiries.