Senate
Civil Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2014
Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Attorney General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC)ATTACHMENT B - UNIFORM EVIDENCE LAW ACTS COMPARATIVE TABLES
The following tables note where the provisions are substantially equivalent, substantially different, or where there are no equivalent sections in the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth), in comparison to the following Acts:
- •
- Evidence Act 1995 (NSW)
- •
- Evidence Act 2008 (Vic)
- •
- Evidence Act 2001 (Tas)
- •
- Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), and
- •
- Evidence (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT).
All of these Acts are based on the Model Uniform Evidence Act Bill, as endorsed by the then Standing Committee of Attorneys-General in 2007.
Provisions which are substantially equivalent include provisions that have minor drafting variations such as those required because an Act is to operate in a jurisdiction that is not the Commonwealth. For example, the following are considered to be minor drafting variations:
- •
- references to a court of a particular State or Territory (i.e. a 'New South Wales court' in the New South Wales Act) in place of a 'court' in the Commonwealth Act, and
- •
- differences in terminology, for example where 'accused' is used in the Victorian Act, whereas 'defendant' is used in the Commonwealth Act.
Provisions that are substantially different include instances where a subsection of the Commonwealth Act does not appear in the equivalent Act of the jurisdiction or where a jurisdiction has included a subsection in its Act that is additional to what appears in the Commonwealth Act.
This table is current as at 8 July 2014.
| = | This symbol indicates that the section either mirrors the Commonwealth provision or that the section is substantially equivalent to the Commonwealth provision. |
| • | This symbol indicates that the section is substantially different from the Commonwealth Act. |
| Cells shaded in grey denote that there is no equivalent section in the particular Act. | |
| [XX] | Section numbers enclosed within square brackets denote that the section appears in the Act of the jurisdiction but does not appear in the Commonwealth Act. |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 1 | = | • | = | = | = |
| 2 | = | = | = | = | |
| [2A] | [2A] | ||||
| 3 | • | = | • | • | • |
| [3A] | [3A], [3B], [3C], [3D] | [3A], [3B] | |||
| 4 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | = | = | = | = | |
| 8 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8A | = | = | |||
| 9 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 10 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 11 | = | = | = | = | = |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 12-18 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 19 [6] | • | • | • | • | |
| 20 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 21 | = | = | = | = | • |
| 22 | • | • | = | • | • |
| 23 | • | • | = | • | • |
| 24 | = | = | = | = | |
| [24A] | [24A] | [24A] | |||
| 26-30 [7] | = | = | = | = | = |
| [30A] | |||||
| 31-40 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 41 | = | • | = | = | • |
| 42-54 | = | = | = | = | = |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 55-58 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 59 | = | • | = | = | = |
| 60-67 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 68 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 69 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 70 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 71-75 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 76 | = | • | = | = | = |
| 77-85 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [85A] | |||||
| 86-103 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 104 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 106, 108, 108A [8] | = | = | = | = | = |
| 108B | = | = | • | = | = |
| 108C, 109-112 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 113 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 114 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 115 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 117-126 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [126A]-[126F] | [126A]-[126F] | [126A]-[126F] | |||
| 126G | • | ||||
| 126H | • | ||||
| [126I]-[126L] | [126J]-[126K] | [126J]-[126L] | |||
| 127 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [127A]-[127B] | |||||
| 128 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 128A | • | • | • | • | • |
| 129 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 130-131 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 131A | • | • | • | • | • |
| 131B | |||||
| 132-139 | = | = | = | = | = |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 140-142 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [142A] | |||||
| 143-147 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 148 | = | = | = | = | • |
| 149 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 150 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 151 | |||||
| 152-154 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 155 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 155A | |||||
| 156-159 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 160 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 161-162 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 163 | |||||
| 164 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 165 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 165A | = | = | = | = | = |
| 165B | • | = | = | = | • |
| 166-170 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 171 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 172-177 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [177A]-[177E] | |||||
| 178 | = | = | • | = | = |
| 179-181 | = | = | = | = | = |
| [181A] |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 182 | |||||
| 183-184 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 185 | |||||
| 186 | |||||
| 187-192, 192A | = | = | = | = | = |
| 193 | = | = | • | = | = |
| [194] | [194] | [194], [194A]-[194M] | [194] | ||
| 195 | • | • | • | • | = |
| [196] | [196], [196A]-[196C] | [196] | |||
| 197 | = | • | • | • | • |
| [198] | [198], [199]-[200] |
Dictionary
Please note that the Dictionary in the Evidence Act 2001 (Tas) is located in sections 3-3D instead of at the end of the Act.
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| Additional definition for 'ACT Court' | |||||
| Admission | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definitions for 'analysis, analyst' | |||||
| Asserted fact, associated defendant, Australia, Australian court, Australian law | = | = | = | = | = |
| Australian Lawyer | • | • | • | • | • |
| Australian legal practitioner | • | • | • | • | • |
| Australian Parliament | = | = | = | = | = |
| Australian practising certificate | • | • | • | • | • |
| Australian registered foreign lawyer | • | • | • | • | • |
| Australian Statistician | = | = | = | • | = |
| Business, case | = | = | = | = | = |
| Child | = | = | = | • | = |
| Civil penalty, civil proceedings, client, coincidence evidence, coincidence rule | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'Commonwealth Act' | Additional definition for 'Commonwealth Act' | ||||
| Commonwealth agency, Commonwealth document, Commonwealth entity | |||||
| Commonwealth owned body corporate, Commonwealth record, Confidential communication, Confidential document, credibility, credibility evidence, credibility rule, criminal proceeding, cross-examination, cross-examiner | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'counselling communication' | |||||
| Additional definition for 'court' | Additional definition for 'court' | Additional definition for 'court' | Additional definition for 'court' | Additional definition for 'court' | |
| De facto partner | = | = | |||
| Document, Electronic communication, examination in chief | = | = | = | = | = |
| Exercise of a function | = | = | = | = | |
| Fax | = | = | = | = | = |
| Federal court | |||||
| Foreign court | = | = | = | • | = |
| Function | = | = | = | = | = |
| Government or official gazette | • | • | • | • | |
| Additional definition for 'Governor of a State' and 'Governor-General' | Additional definition for 'Governor of a State' and 'Governor-General' | Additional definition for 'Governor of a State' and 'Governor-General' | Additional definition for 'Governor of a State' and 'Governor-General' | ||
| Hearsay rule, identification evidence, investigating official, joint sitting, judge, law | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'lawyer' | Additional definition for 'lawyer' | ||||
| Leading question, legal counsel | = | = | = | = | = |
| Legislative Assembly | = | = | = | • | = |
| Offence, opinion rule | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'member of AFP' and 'NSW court' | Additional definition for 'member of AFP' | Additional definition for 'member of AFP' and 'official questioning' | Additional definition for 'member of AFP' and 'NSW Act' | Additional definition for 'member of AFP' and 'NSW Act' | |
| OS registered foreign lawyer | • | • | • | • | • |
| Parent | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'party' | Additional definition for 'party' | ||||
| Picture identification evidence | = | = | = | ||
| Police officer | • | • | • | • | • |
| Postal article, previous representation, prior consistent statement, prior inconsistent statement, probative value, prosecutor | = | = | = | = | = |
| Public document | = | = | = | • | = |
| Re-examination | = | = | = | = | = |
| Registered | |||||
| Representation, Seal | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definitions for:
'serious offence' 'sexual offence' 'spouse' 'surrogate child' 'surrogate parent' 'Tasmanian court' |
|||||
| Tendency evidence, tendency rule, traditional laws and customs | = | = | = | = | = |
| Additional definition for 'Victorian court' | Additional definition for 'Territory court' and 'Victorian Act' | ||||
| Visual identification evidence | = | = | = | ||
| Witness | = | = | = | = | = |
| Section of Cth Act | NSW | Vic | Tas | ACT | NT |
| 1 | = | = | = | • | = |
| 2-8 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 8A | • | • | • | • | |
| 9-10 | = | = | = | = | = |
| 11 | = | • |
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