Footnotes

Chapter 1 - Introduction

[1]        ALRC, NSWLRC, VLRC, Uniform Evidence Law: Report, ALRC Report 102, NSWLRC Report 112, VLRC Final Report, December 2005.

[2]        Explanatory Memorandum (EM), p. 1.

[3]        p. 1.

[4]        ALRC, Privilege in Perspective, Report 107, December 2007.

[5]        p. 2.

[6]        p. 2.

[7]        It is unclear why Schedule 3 is included in a bill relating to evidence law. The EM and the Second Reading Speech do not provide any explanation for this.

 

Chapter 2 - Overview of the Bill

[1]        p. 3.

[2]        Most of the text in Chapter 2 is taken from both the EM to the Evidence Bill and Parliamentary Library, Bills Digest no.140, 2007-08, 'Evidence Amendment Bill 2008'. Chapter 2 will contain only a general overview of the Bill. Further detailed explanation of each of the Evidence Bill's provisions, as well as the Evidence Act as it currently stands, is provided in the EM and the Bills Digest.

[3]        EM, p. 5.

[4]        See Items 84 and 94 which insert proposed Clause 11 into Part 2 of the Dictionary.

[5]        p. 6.

[6]        p. 6.

[7]        p. 11.

[8]        p. 7.

[9]        (1998) 195 CLR 606.

[10]      p. 16.

[11]      p. 16.

[12]      p. 16.

[13]      p. 17.

[14]      New section 108C is explained in further detail below.

[15]      The amendment addresses the reasons of the majority of the High Court in Kelly v The Queen (2004) 218 CLR 216.

[16]      p. 19.

[17]      (2001) 207 CLR 96.

[18]      p. 21.

[19]      Unreported, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, 13 August 1997.

[20]      p. 25. New section 79 is discussed in more detail above.

[21]      p. 26.

[22]      EM, p. 27.

[23]      (2002) 212 CLR 124.

[24]      p. 8.

 

Chapter 3 - Key Issues

[1]        See Submissions f1, f2 and f3. See also FamilyVoice Australia, Submission 2; Australian Family Association, Submission 5; Australian Family Association (SA), Submission 9.

[2]        Submission 7, p. 1.

[3]        Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 2.

[4]        Submission 10, p. 2.

[5]        Submission 10, p. 2.

[6]        Submission 10, p. 2.

[7]        The committee notes that, on 4 September 2008, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission changed its name to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

[8]        Submission 11, p. 3.

[9]        Submission 6, p. 1.

[10]      Submission 6, p. 2.

[11]      Submission 7, p. 1.

[12]      Submission 7, p. 4.

[13]      Submission 7, p. 4.

[14]      ALRC, Evidence, ALRC 38, 1987, p. 80 quoted in Uniform Evidence Law Report, p. 116.

[15]      Submission 7, p. 5.

[16]      Submission 7, p. 5.

[17]      Submission 7, p. 5.

[18]      HREOC, Same-Sex: Same Entitlements, Report of the National Inquiry into Discrimination against People in Same-Sex Relationships: Financial and Work-Related Entitlements and Benefits, April 2007, p. 6.

[19]      Submission 8, p. 5.

[20]      Submission 8, p. 4.

[21]      Submission 8, p. 5.

[22]      The committee tabled its report in relation to the Family Law Bill on 28 August 2008 and is scheduled to table its report in relation to the Same-Sex Superannuation Bill on 8 October 2008. See further Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Bill 2008, August 2008 and Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws–Superannuation) Bill 2008, October 2008.

[23]      Family Law Bill, Answers to questions on notice, received 20 August 2008, p. 3. See further Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (section 995-1), the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948 (section 4B), the Social Security Act 1991 (subsections 4(2)-(6A)), and the Aged Care Act 1997 (section 44-11).

[24]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 9.

[25]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 9.

[26]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 11.

[27]      Uniform Evidence Law Report, Recommendation 4-6, p. 122.

[28]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 7.

[29]      Committee Hansard, Family Law Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 13. The Family Law Bill relied on referrals by the states to the Commonwealth under subsection 51(xxxvii) of the Constitution.

[30]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 10.

[31]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 12. See also Uniform Evidence Law Report, p. 121.

[32]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 16.

[33]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 10.

[34]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 10.

[35]      Committee Hansard, Same-Sex Superannuation Bill, 6 August 2008, p. 6.

[36]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 13.

[37]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 17.

[38]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 17.

[39]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 5.

[40]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 7.

[41]      Submission j59, p. 5; and see also Committee Hansard: Same-Sex Superannuation Bill, 6 August 2008, p. 41.

[42]      Committee Hansard, Same-Sex Superannuation Bill, 6 August 2008, p. 2.

[43]      Submission j59, pp 6 and 8.

[44]      Submission j59, p. 8. However, the committee also notes evidence it received in the course of the inquiry into the Same-Sex Superannuation Bill in relation to the inconsistent availability of registration schemes throughout Australia. See further Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws–Superannuation) Bill 2008, October 2008.

[45]      p. 6. As explained earlier in Chapter 3, the committee notes that the Family Law Bill also includes registration of a relationship under state or territory law as a factor to be considered in determining whether a de facto relationship exists.

[46]      pp 6-7.

[47]      Proposed paragraph 4AA(1)(b).

[48]      EM to Family Law Bill, p. 11.

[49]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 7.

[50]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 11.

[51]      Committee Hansard: Evidence Bill, 7 August 2008, pp 11 and 12.

[52]      Committee Hansard: Same-Sex Superannuation Bill, 7 August 2008, p. 16.

[53]      EM to Same-Sex General Law Reform Bill, p. 6.

[54]      Under section 22B, a person will be considered to be in a registered relationship with another person for the purposes of paragraph 22A(a) if the relationship is registered under a prescribed law of a state or territory as a prescribed kind of relationship. This will only apply to relationships that are registered under state or territory laws that are prescribed for the purposes of the Acts Interpretation Act and are of a kind that has been prescribed. For example, the EM states that provisions of state and territory laws that provide for registration of 'caring' or 'interdependent' relationships will not be prescribed as kinds of relationships that will be taken to be a registered relationship for the purposes of the Acts Interpretation Act: p. 6.

[55]      EM, p. 6.

[56]      EM, p. 7.

[57]      EM, p. 7.

[58]      Answer to question on notice, received 15 September 2008, p. 1.

[59]      The Hon. Robert McClelland MP, Attorney-General, Same-Sex General Law Reform Bill, Second Reading Speech, House of Representatives Hansard, p. 4.

 

Additional comments by Liberal senators

[1]        See Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Bill 2008, August 2008.