Commonwealth Consolidated Regulations Commonwealth Consolidated Regulations(1) A member of the Defence Force is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the member appears as a witness before an Inquiry Officer or an inquiry assistant; and
(b) the member is ordered by the Inquiry Officer or inquiry assistant to produce a document or an article that:
(i) is in the custody or control of the member; and
(ii) is relevant to the inquiry; and
(c) the member refuses to produce the document or article.
Penalty: 5 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months.
(2) A member of the Defence Force is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the member appears as a witness before an Inquiry Officer or an inquiry assistant; and
(b) the member is ordered by the Inquiry Officer or inquiry assistant to produce a document or an article that:
(i) is in the custody or control of the member; and
(ii) is relevant to the inquiry; and
(c) the member fails to produce the document or article.
Penalty: 5 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months.
(3) An offence against subregulation (2) is an offence of strict liability.
Note For strict liability , see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .
(4) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subregulation (1) or (2) if the person has a reasonable excuse for refusing or failing to produce the document or article.
Note A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters mentioned in subregulation (4) (see section 13.3 of the Criminal Code ).
(5) Without limiting the circumstances that may constitute a reasonable excuse for the purposes of subregulation (4), a member has a reasonable excuse for refusing or failing to produce a document or article if the member considers, on reasonable grounds, that producing the document or article may:
(a) disclose a secret process of manufacture; or
(b) be prejudicial to the defence of the Commonwealth.
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