The Administrative Review Council on 1 May 2008 submitted a report to the Attorney-General entitled "The Coercive Information-gathering Powers of Government Agencies." The Administrative Review Council is an Australian Government body responsible for overseeing the Australian system of administrative review.
The report highlighted the importance of coercive information-gathering powers as an administrative and regulatory tool for government.
The report identified 20 best practice principles directly relevant to all government agencies in their use of the powers. The principles are based on the application of the administrative law values of fairness, lawfulness, rationality, transparency and efficiency.
The Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 gave the ABCC a compulsory information-gathering power. The ABCC is able to require persons to furnish information or give evidence. The power and its use have attracted a degree of public comment and debate.
The ABCC conducted a thorough review of its procedures against the 20 best practice principles.
The review found that the ABCC legislation and procedures complied with all the principles that are applicable to its use of the power. Some minor adjustments have been made to our procedures to further improve the rigour of our processes and usefulness of the information we provide witnesses.
This means that the use of the compulsory power by the ABCC is strictly in accordance with the best principles of sound public administration and accountability.
In preparing the report the Council considered in detail the use of the powers by six Australian Government agencies. The ABCC was not one of the six agencies.