During a recent parliamentary committee hearing in Australia, the CEO of a supermarket chain was threatened with being found in contempt for refusing to answer a question, and warned that the penalty could be imprisonment or a fine. This video addresses the constitutional basis for a House of Parliament being able to imprison or fine a person who it finds guilty of contempt. It addresses how this is an exception to the doctrine of the separation of powers, what the source of this power is, and how it has been exercised. The 10th edition of Erskine May even makes a cameo appearance.
The imprisonment of Fitzpatrick and Browne in 1955 for contempt of Parliament is discussed, as are the subsequent changes to the law made by the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987, which clarified the scope of contempt, specified maximum penalties and expanded the scope for judicial review.
For those interested in how the Canadian House of Commons 'admonished' a businessman for similar conduct, see: / 1780682673905606799 . It was the first time a private citizen had been ordered to appear before the bar of the House in Canada since 1913. These occasions are rare.
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