Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drugs

Announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on 5 October 1977 as a national royal commission to be constituted by Mr Justice E. S. Williams of the Supreme Court of Queensland. The Commonwealth appointed him by Letters Patent under the Royal Commissions Act 1902 and Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia appointed him to head identical inquiries under state law; New South Wales and South Australia ran their own drug inquiries. The Commonwealth Letters Patent are dated 13 October 1977.

Legislation: Royal Commissions Act 1902

1. 1979Recommended that the Federal Narcotics Bureau be disbanded; the same year the Queensland Premier asked the commission to examine claims that Queensland politicians and police were involved in the drug trade.

Reported in 1980; the report, in several books, was published by the Australian Government Publishing Service as Parliamentary Paper No. 27 of 1980, with a separate report on matters relevant to Victoria. The exact date of the final report was not found. Its 1979 recommendation that the Federal Narcotics Bureau be disbanded preceded the transfer of federal drug law enforcement to the Australian Federal Police. The Parliamentary Handbook gives 16 September 1980 as the date the final report was presented.

• Inquiry into the extent of illicit drug use and trafficking in Australia
• Review of drug law enforcement arrangements
• Recommendations on national drug policy and enforcement

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Some dates or links for this organisation are uncertain. Corrections are welcome.