What it does
The Evidence Act 1906 (WA) (the Act) serves as the primary statutory framework governing the admissibility, presentation, and evaluation of evidence in legal proceedings within Western Australian courts. At its core, it consolidates and expands upon common law principles while introducing specific statutory rules tailored to modern contexts. Section 4 provides that, unless a contrary intention appears, all provisions apply to every legal proceeding, encompassing both civil and criminal matters before courts including the Supreme Court, District Court, Magistrates Court, and specialist bodies like the Children's Court (as defined in s.3).
The Act's functions can be broadly categorised. First, it addresses competency and compellability of witnesses. For instance, s.6 removes historical bars based on interest or prior conviction, while ss.7–9 delineate rules for parties, spouses, and accused persons in civil and criminal cases. An accused is competent but not compellable (s.8(1)), with specific exceptions for spousal evidence in scheduled offences under the Second Schedule (s.9(1)(c)). Section 11 empowers a court to compel answers to incriminating questions with a certificate granting immunity from prosecution (subject to perjury exceptions in s.13), and s.11A allows suppression orders to protect the witness.
Second, the Act establishes privileges and protections. Section 18 preserves marital communications (subject to s.9), while Part 19A (ss.19A–19M) creates a robust sexual assault communications privilege, requiring court leave for disclosure only where there is legitimate forensic purpose (s.19E), public interest favours it (s.19G), and ancillary orders can mitigate harm (s.19J). Similar protections exist for professional confidential relationships (ss.20A–20F) and journalists' informants (ss.20G–20M), with misconduct exceptions (ss.20E, 20K). These provisions override general rules only to the extent expressly stated (s.19L, s.20B).