Justice Neville Owen, a WA Supreme Court judge, will oversee the Royal Commission inquiring into the collapse of HIH. The Royal Commission will begin in September – after Justice Owen has completed his present legal commitments – and will report to Parliament in June 2002.

He will examine the extent to which decisions of HIH’s directors, executives and auditors contributed to the failure, and will also inquire into any possible decisions or actions taken by these individuals that “might have constituted a breach of any law of the Commonwealth, a state or a territory”.

The role of APRA – as well as the role played by state-based agencies overseeing arrangements in the insurance sector – will also be investigated. State insurance monopolies and the states’ taxation regimes will also be highlighted in the inquiry.

The announcement of the Royal Commission’s terms of reference came in for immediate fire from several state governments, which criticised the delay in getting it started and the length of time allowed before it must report. It is likely, however, to keep the inquiry from becoming a political football in an election year.

Justice Owen, 53, is a specialist in corporate insolvency. He played a key role in the winding-up of Bond Corporation in 1994.