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sets out the grounds on which the informant may refuse to disclose any material required to be disclosed under Division 2, Part 3.2. The informant may refuse to disclose material if it would, or would be reasonably likely, to—
prejudice the investigation of a contravention (or possible contravention) of the law;
prejudice the fair hearing of a charge or the impartial adjudication of a particular case;
disclose methods or procedures for preventing, detecting, investigating or dealing with matters arising out of contraventions or evasions of the law if such disclosure would, or would be reasonably likely to, prejudice the effectiveness of those methods or procedures;
endanger the lives or physical safety of certain persons.
If an informant refuses to disclose material required in a preliminary brief or full brief, clause 37(1)(f) and clause 41(1)(f) require the informant to include a written notice in the preliminary brief or full brief (whichever is being served) stating the grounds on which the informant refuses disclosure. An informant may also refuse to disclose material on any ground on which the informant would be entitled to refuse to produce material under a witness summons, which protects the restrictions on disclosure developed by the courts in relation to subpoenas. An informant may refuse to disclose particulars of a previous conviction of a witness if it is irrelevant to the proceeding having regard to the character of the previous conviction. The informant might consider that a previous conviction is irrelevant for a number of reasons such as—
the witness is not that important to the prosecution case;
the witness's credit is not or should not be in issue;
the previous conviction is not relevant to the prosecution case;
the previous conviction is not relevant to the accused's case; or
the previous conviction is not relevant to the case because of the character of the previous conviction.
Only the last reason is a basis for the informant to refuse to disclose a previous conviction of a witness. If the informant does refuse to disclose a previous conviction, the informant must inform the accused of the existence of the undisclosed previous conviction. This clause, together with the Magistrates' Court's power to make disclosure orders under clause 46, is designed to reduce reliance on witness summonses and subpoenas to resolve disclosure disputes.