Files maintained by the Department of Human Services and analogous government welfare agencies, hospitals and health care providers are business records within the meaning of s 69 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic), even though they concern individual cases rather than the 'running' of the organisation. The phrase 'directly or indirectly' in s 69(2) is not confined to first and second-hand hearsay but extends to more remote degrees of hearsay; the supplier of information need not be identified so long as the nature and context of the recorded representation permits the inference that it was made on the basis of information from someone with personal knowledge. Where tendency evidence of a sexual interest in a single complainant does not constitute an uncharged criminal act, no anti-propensity (Grech) direction is required. The court also questioned whether the Grech direction is necessary even where uncharged criminal acts are involved in single-complainant cases.
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