USQ Law Society Law Review
Eddie Fraser
Winter 2022
UNIFORM EVIDENCE LEGISLATION: AN ARGUMENT FOR QUEENSLAND TO ADOPT THE UNIFORM EVIDENCE ACT EDDIE FRASER I
INTRODUCTION
An important question arises for the state of Queensland when looking at evidence law. This question is whether Queensland should follow suit of other states who have adopted the Uniform Evidence Act (‘UEA’).1 The aim of this paper will be to inform the reader those reasons as to why the UEA should be adopted to fall in line with evidence in those states which have already adopted the Australian Law Reform Commission’s recommendations for uniform evidence legislation. The paper will draw on the reports of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and the Northern Territory which made recommendations of joining those jurisdictions already adopting the UEA in determining the benefits for the state of Queensland in adopting the UEA in addition to other sources to support the arguments for a uniform comprehensive position with respect to evidence law in Australia. In the Queensland Law Reform Commission’s (‘QLRC’) report of the Uniform Evidence Acts2 of 2005, it was evidently clear by the responses and recommendations by the QLRC that further review be undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission (‘ALRC’) with respect to the UEA. Additionally, sections of the report agreed with the recommendations made by the ALRC. This indicates that as of 2005, the QLRC was sitting on the fence with respect of adapting the UEA. Since the report it should be noted that only three (3) Australian states remain to adopt the UEA in their legislation those states are Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. The review by the ALRC has been regarded as one of the most significant inquiries with the recommendations of the ALRC leading to fundamental changes with respect to the rules of evidence.3 These fundamental changes were apparent in the jurisdictions who adopted the UEA and those reports from the inquiry of the ALRC have been seen as the authoritative text on evidence law.4 It should be noted though that given the adoption of the UEA in half of the Australian jurisdictions there exists a lack of harmony in the rules between sates and between
1
Evidence Act 1995 (Cth).
2
Queensland Law Reform Commission, A Review of the Uniform Evidence Acts, Report No 60 (2005).
3
Ann Finlay, ‘Reviewing the evidence act 1995 the new ALRC Inquiry’ (2004) 85 Reform 47, 61.
4
Ibid.
4
