Law Reform Commission Act 1967

The Commission, in accordance with any reference to it made by the Minister:

shall consider the law, enacted or promulgated by the Legislature of New South Wales or by any person under the authority of that Legislature, with a view to, or for the purpose of:

eliminating defects and anachronisms in the law,

repealing obsolete or unnecessary enactments,

consolidating, codifying or revising the law,

simplifying or modernising the law by bringing it into accord with current conditions,

adopting new or more effective methods for the administration of the law and the dispensation of justice,

systematically developing and reforming the law,

shall consider proposals relating to matters in respect of which it is competent for the Legislature of New South Wales or any person under the authority of that Legislature to enact or promulgate laws, and

may for the purposes of this section hold and conduct such inquiries as it thinks fit.

For the purposes of any inquiry under this section:

the Commission and the Chairperson shall have the powers, authorities, protections and immunities conferred on a commissioner by Division 1 of Part 2 of the Royal Commissions Act 1923, and that Act (section 13 and Division 2 of Part 2 excepted) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to any witness summoned by or appearing before the Commission,

the provisions of Division 2 of Part 2 of that Act (section 17 excepted) shall apply where the Chairperson or the Deputy Chairperson, if he or she is a judge of the Supreme Court and is acting as Chairperson, is presiding at the inquiry, and

the provisions of section 17 (1), (2) and (3) of that Act shall apply where the Minister has, at any time, in, or in relation to, the reference to which the inquiry relates, declared those provisions to apply and where the commissioner presiding at the inquiry is a judge of the Supreme Court.