Royal Commission into Joshua Arthur

The Royal Commission into Joshua Arthur or Doyle Royal Commission, formally called the "Royal Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to Joshua George Arthur and Reginald Aubrey Doyle" was a royal commission in New South Wales initiated by the Cahill government to investigate allegations against Joshua Arthur, the Secretary for Mines and Minister for Immigration.

Commission term, proceedings, recommendations and report

Hearings commenced on 25 March 1953 and the Commissioner conducted public hearings on 35 days, with evidence given by 54 witnesses and 79 exhibits were tendered. Counsel assisting was Harold Snelling, Arthur was represented by Eric Miller while Wentworth was represented by Richard Ashburner. As well as determining the facts, the commission had to decide the legal standard that applied to determine if conduct was corrupt or improper. Miller sought to apply a narrow meaning, limited to a breach of the criminal law, while counsel assisting submitted that it had a wider meaning. The Commission did not decide this issue as he concluded that on either approach Arthur's conduct was not corrupt. The Commission accepted that "improper" meant:

Conduct which is discreditable, dishonourable, disreputable or seriously reprehensible on the part of a person occupying the position of a Minister of the Crown; or conduct which is a serious or substantial breach of recognised standards of rectitude and decency to be expected of a person fulfilling the office of a Cabinet Minister, and such as would meet with general condemnation by right-minded citizens.

;Reference 1
The report concluded in relation to the principal allegation that:

In view of what has been said earlier, I find that Joshua George Arthur did not act corruptly in any dealing or association with Reginald Aubrey Doyle.
I find that Joshua George Arthur acted improperly in the following associations and dealings with Reginald Aubrey Doyle:
I therefore answer the question propounded in term 1 of Your Excellency's reference as follows:- Not corruptly, but improperly in relation to the matters set out above.

;Reference 2
The report concluded that apart from limited instances in which John Seiffert had made his rooms available to Doyle, no other employee or Member of Parliament except Arthur had made rooms or telephones available to him. The Commissioner concluded that Seffiert had probably allowed Doyle to use his rooms merely as a courtesy, as he assumed that Doyle was in Parliament House on legitimate business.
;Reference 3
The commission found that cars belonging to and Mrs Doyle were parked in the Parliament House car park on a number of occasions, but no specific authorisation was given and Mrs Doyle simply took advantage of the custom to waive the strict rule regarding parking in the Parliament House car park for those who had dealings with Ministers. Doyle had given the impression to the Police in charge of parking that both he and his wife were in Parliament on legitimate business.
;Reference 4
The commission found that the car bearing the registration number AHB 405 was moved by Mrs Doyle at 11:30 on 2 February 1953 at the request of Mr Doyle. He also concluded that the Parliament House parking authorisation list had been altered to allow cars with registration number AHB 405, AEZ 728 to park in the parking area, and then subsequently removed. There was not enough evidence however, to determine who granted the authority. There was also not enough evidence to determine "by whom or at whose direction such slip was removed, nor the circumstances in which was removed".
;Reference 5
The report concluded that Arthur had beneficially held shares up until approximately November 1953, in Constructors Limited whilst he was Minister for Mines, except for 12,000 shares which he transferred to his former wife and two children as part of a divorce settlement and had made a profit of over £2,000 on the shares. The Commission also found evidence of a small holding in the company by Mr Renshaw, the Minister for Lands, but concluded that "No other Minister of the Government of New South Wales or of the Commonwealth is now or has been at any time during his tenure of office as a Minister a shareholder in Constructors Limited." The Commission concluded that Constructors Ltd. and its subsidiaries had entered into several contracts with the Joint Coal Board. All of these contracts were considered to be perfectly legitimate by the Commission. The Commission concluded that Mr Arthur had not acted corruptly, or improperly either in his shareholding with Constructor Limited, or in reference to the contracts that the company had with the Joint Coal Board, as he probably had acquired shares in the company without any knowledge of a potential contractual arrangement between the Joint Coal Board and the company, or before any business relations had been conducted between the two companies.

Aftermath

After the report was tabled in the Legislative Assembly, Arthur spoke for 75 minutes in his defence, before tendering his resignation as the member for Kahibah, stating his intention to contest the resulting by-election. The matter of his continued membership of the Labor was initially undecided, but when it became clear that the state executive would not support him, Arthur announced that he would resign from the party and not contest the by-election. This was insufficient for the executive, who rejected his resignation and formally expelled him from the party on 22 August. The surprise Labor candidate for the by-election was Joshua Arthur Sr., the 71-year-old father of the outgoing member, which Antony Green described as a snub by local party branches to the Labor Party. Arthur Sr was soundly defeated, finishing third and the seat won by independent Tom Armstrong.
Doyle remained an undischarged bankrupt in 1964, when he was charged with fraud involving £160,000 of bogus invoices, and was sentenced to a further 12 years in prison.