Mr. John Keane:

As for the contributions that have been at meetings of the committee, we have made two separate contributions on that exact point. The Minister and his officials, when they were before the committee, affirmed that the investigative powers would be conferred on the CCPC. The CCPC had a different interpretation of the Bill. We are not legal experts so we have sought clarity as to whether the CCPC has such investigative powers. The authorised officer is referred to in our submission. It is written in the draft Bill - I cannot remember under which head - that the chief executive has the power to appoint an authorised officer to carry out an investigation. By way of comparison, the data protection law enacted in 2018 states that the chief executive officer has the authority to appoint an authorised officer from among his or her staff or a person or persons from wider afield. We note, however, that this draft Bill does not contain a reference to staff. What will the skill set within the staff complement be? Will they have the required skill set? Is there provision for them to have the required skill set for forensic audits? Some potential investigations may involve IT software. Will there be the skill set for forensic investigation of IT software? An authorised officer with that sort of skill set will be needed within this new office of fairness and transparency if it is to carry out these investigations. It is not clear from the draft Bill whether or not that skill set will be contained within the new office.

There are a lot of questions. I am sure the committee will continue to work on this, but we have those reservations as to whether the skill set will be there to appoint an authorised officer. Because that is not directly stated within the draft Bill, is there a silent intention within the draft Bill that this be the case?