Pursuant to section 10 of the Law Reform Commission Act 1967 (NSW), the Attorney General, the Hon Jeff Shaw QC, referred the following matter to the Law Reform Commission by letter on 1 August 1997:

• to inquire into and report on whether the offences contained in section 316 of the Crimes Act 1900 pertaining to concealing a serious offence should be abolished or amended.

The Law Reform Commission is constituted by the Law Reform Commission Act 1967 (NSW). For the purpose of this reference, the Chairman, in accordance with the Act, created a Division comprising the following members of the Commission:

Mr Michael Adams QC
Judge Robert Bellear
Justice John Dowd AO
Professor Jack Goldring*
Justice David Hunt
Judge Angela Karpin
(* denotes Commissioner-in-Charge)

Executive Director

Mr Peter Hennessy

Ms Ailsa Goodwin

Ms Aferdita Kryeziu
Ms Beverley Caska

Ms Julie Freeman

Ms Wendy King
Ms Kathryn Sharpe

The Commission invites submissions on the issues relevant to this review, including but not limited to the issues raised in this Discussion Paper.

All submissions and inquiries should be directed to:

Mr Peter Hennessy
Executive Director
NSW Law Reform Commission
GPO Box 5199
SYDNEY NSW 2001

[DX 1227 Sydney]

Phone: (02) 9228 8230
Fax: (02) 9228 8225

There is no special form required for submissions. If it is inconvenient or impractical to make a written submission you may telephone the Commission and either direct your comments to a Legal Officer over the telephone, or else arrange to make your submission in person.

Closing date for submissions

The closing date for submissions is 27 March 1998. No final decisions will be made by the Commission until after the deadline for submissions has passed.

Use of submissions and confidentiality

If you would like your submission to be treated as confidential, please indicate this in your submission. Submissions made to the Commission may be used in two ways:

• Since the Commission’s process of law reform is essentially public, copies of submissions made to the Commission will normally be made available on request to the person or organisation. However, if you would like all or part of your submission to be treated as confidential, please indicate this in your submission. Any request for a copy of a submission marked “confidential” will be determined in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1989 (NSW).
• In preparing the final Report, the Commission may also find it useful to refer to and make mention of comments submitted in response to the Discussion Paper. However, if a request for confidentiality is made, it will be respected by the Commission in relation to the publication of such submissions in a Report.