Royal Commission of Inquiry into Matters in Relation to Electoral Redistribution, Queensland, 1977

Appointed by Letters Patent of 24 April 1978 issued by Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen on the advice of the Fraser government, under the Royal Commissions Act 1902. The sole commissioner, Justice Douglas Gordon Patrick McGregor of the Federal Court of Australia, was to inquire into whether anything said or done by or on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Eric Robinson, or communications between the Distribution Commissioners and him, involved a breach of Commonwealth law or impropriety in the 1977 Queensland redistribution.

Legislation: Royal Commissions Act 1902

1. 10 May 1978Letters Patent varied to add whether Eric Robinson made statements at Beaudesert on 26 July 1977 about likely government decisions on uranium mining.
2. 30 May 1978Letters Patent varied again to cover anything said or done by any person, not only Robinson, affecting the redistribution of the former Division of McPherson.

Reported in August 1978. The commission exonerated Eric Robinson but found that Senator Reg Withers, Minister for Administrative Services, had used his ministerial influence improperly; Prime Minister Fraser dismissed Withers from the ministry on 7 August 1978. The Parliamentary Handbook gives 15 August 1978 as the date the final report was presented.

• Inquiry into the conduct of the 1977 Queensland federal electoral redistribution
• Inquiry into the renaming of the proposed Division of Gold Coast as McPherson
• Inquiry into statements attributed to Eric Robinson

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Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.