Evidence Act 1995

Subject to this section, the provisions of this Act referred to in the following Table apply in relation to documents that:

are, or form part of, Commonwealth records; or

at the time they were produced were, or formed part of, Commonwealth records;

For the purposes of subsection (1), section 69, subsection 70(1) and section 71 apply in relation to proceedings, other than proceedings in a federal court, as if the references in those sections to the hearsay rule were references to any rule of law restricting the admissibility or use of hearsay evidence.

Subsection (1) applies to subsection 70(1) only in relation to tags or labels that may reasonably be supposed to have been attached to objects in the course of carrying on an activity engaged in by a body, person or organisation referred to in the definition of Commonwealth record in the Dictionary.

For the purposes of subsection (1) in relation to the application of subsection 70(1):

the reference in subsection (1) to documents includes a reference to writing placed on objects; and

the reference in subsection (3) to tags or labels attached to objects includes a reference to writing placed on objects.

Section 160 applies in relation to postal articles sent by a Commonwealth agency as if that section applied to the extent provided for in section 5.

Sections 47, 48, 49, 51, 147, 149 and 152, Divisions 1 and 2 of Part 4.6 and section 183 apply in relation to a Commonwealth document that:

is in the possession of a Commonwealth entity; or

has been destroyed but was, immediately before its destruction, in the possession of a Commonwealth entity or someone else to whom it had been given by a Commonwealth entity for destruction;

This section does not derogate from the operation of a law of a State or Territory that enables evidence of a matter referred to in this section to be given.

Section 5 extends the operation of this provision to proceedings in all Australian courts.