A Royal Commission has enormous discretion over its witnesses. An oral examination would have allowed Counsel Assisting to do something a written submission cannot easily accomplish: test Frydenberg’s assumptions. A Royal Commission derives its authority not simply from its legal powers but from the public’s confidence that it has heard the people who matter and tested the competing explanations. If a prominent Jewish Australian with first-hand experience at the highest levels of government is willing to appear, there should be a convincing reason for not hearing him. A Royal Commission is perfectly capable of distinguishing evidence from advocacy.