Tag: Western Australian Evidence Law

New Evidence Laws for WA

I appeared on last week’s Law Report (on ABC Radio National) to discuss aspects of the Evidence Bill 2024 (WA). You can listen to the segment below:

Aidan Ricciardo on the Law Report (ABC Radio National) on 3 September 2024.

As many readers of this blog will already be aware, the Western Australian government has introduced bills to the state parliament to update Evidence Laws in WA. The new legislative scheme substantially adopts the Uniform Evidence Law (already enacted in the Commonwealth, NSW, Vic, Tas, NT and the ACT) but with some material modifications (eg, in relation to identification evidence) and a number of additional provisions (including those relating to family violence, as I discuss in the Law Report segment).

You can access the bills here (the bills are to be read together – should they pass through parliament there will only be one Evidence Act):

  • Evidence Bill 2024 (WA) (this bill was introduced in the Legislative Council and contains all of the proposed new Evidence Act except for those provisions relating to the establishment of a witness intermediary service).
  • Evidence Amendment Bill 2024 (WA) (this bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly because it includes provisions which appropriate money or revenue for the establishment of a new witness intermediary service).

Earlier this year I was engaged as a consultant by the Department of Justice to conduct an independent academic review of an earlier draft of the proposed law. The Department also sought submissions from a range of targeted stakeholders.

In WA, we have been anticipating a move to the Uniform Evidence Law for some time now, so it is great to see the proposed legislation in parliament. Whilst our version of the law might be better described as “uniform-ish” rather than “uniform”, it will bring some significant changes in WA. From a personal perspective, I’m glad that my colleagues and I at the UWA Law School bit the bullet and transitioned to teaching the Uniform Evidence Law in our Evidence Law course back in 2023!

The Evidence Bill 2024 (WA) has been referred to the Standing Committee on Uniform Legislation and Statutes Review. I will post updates on this blog as the legislation progresses.