Review of the right of the silence 

Reference received: ​1 August 1997

Report

​Report 95: The Right to Silence [PDF, 636Kb], July 2000

Tabled in parliament: 31 October 2000

NSW Law Reform Commission Media Release - Report 95 Pre-trial disclosure (11 October 2000) 

Legislative action: Criminal Pr​ocedure Amendment (Pre-trial Disclosure) Act 2001

Judicial citation: Azzopardi v The Queen (2001) 205 CLR 50; Regina v Monroe (2003) 56 NSWLR 652 at 659-660​ 

Discussion paper

​Discussion Paper 41: ​​The right to silence, May 1998

Research report

​Research Report 10: The Right to Silence and Pre-trial Disclosure in New South Wales, July 2000​

Terms of reference

To inquire into and report on the law relating to the right to silence in New South Wales, including but not limited to:

(i) whether such a right should exist at all;

(ii) if so, the nature of any inference that should be able to be drawn from the exercise of that right;

(iii) the operation of s 20 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW);

(iv) whether there should be any mandatory pre-trial or pre-hearing disclosure of the nature of the defence and of the evidence in support of that defence;

(v) if so, whether it should be possible to draw any inferences from the failure to disclose such defence or evidence, or the manner of such mandatory disclosure, or from any change in the nature of the defence or in the evidence in support of it;

(vi) the operation of the current mandatory defence disclosure provisions, including those in relation to alibi, and pursuant to the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW);

(vii) whether changes to the current position with regard to prosecution pre-trial disclosure are needed; and

(viii) any related matter.

In undertaking this reference, the Commission was directed to consider the position in other Australian jurisdictions and other common law jurisdictions throughout the world.