Section 33(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), which provides that the court 'is to ask the offender' whether further offences should be taken into account, does not impose a mandatory condition requiring the judge to personally question the offender. Where the offender's admission of guilt and wish to have further offences taken into account have been unequivocally demonstrated through counsel, the requirement is satisfied. Procedural irregularities in the Form 1 process — including the absence of the DPP's signature and failure to identify the specific principal offence — will not ground a successful appeal where no prejudice is demonstrated.
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