131Exclusion of evidence of settlement negotiations

131 Exclusion of evidence of settlement negotiations (1) Evidence must not be presented of— (a) a communication that is made between people in dispute, or between 1 or more people in dispute and a third party, in connection with an attempt to negotiate a settlement of the dispute; or (b) a document (whether delivered or not) that has been prepared in connection with an attempt to negotiate a settlement of a dispute. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if— (a) the people in dispute consent to the evidence being presented in the proceeding or, if any of the people has tendered the communication or document in evidence in another Australian or overseas proceeding, all the other people consent; or (b) the substance of the evidence has been disclosed with the express or implied consent of all the people in dispute; or (c) the substance of the evidence has been partly disclosed with the express or implied consent of the people in dispute, and full disclosure of the evidence is reasonably necessary to enable a proper understanding of the other evidence that has already been presented; or (d) the communication or document included a statement to the effect that it was not to be treated as confidential; or (e) the evidence tends to contradict or to qualify evidence that has already been admitted about the course of an attempt to settle the dispute; or (f) the proceeding in which it is sought to present the evidence is a proceeding to enforce an agreement between the people in dispute to settle the dispute, or a proceeding in which the making of the agreement is in issue; or (g) evidence that has been presented in the proceeding, or an inference from evidence that has been presented in the proceeding, is likely to mislead the court unless evidence of the communication or document is presented to contradict or to qualify that evidence; or (h) the communication or document is relevant to deciding liability for costs; or (i) making the communication, or preparing the document, affects a right of a person; or (j) the communication was made, or the document was prepared, in furtherance of the commission of a fraud or an offence or the commission of an act that renders a person liable to a civil penalty; or (k) one of the people in dispute, or an employee or agent of 1 of them, knew or ought reasonably to have known that the communication was made, or the document was prepared, in furtherance of a deliberate abuse of a power. (3) For subsection (2) (j), if commission of the fraud, offence or act is a fact in issue and there are reasonable grounds for finding that— (a) the fraud, offence or act was committed; and (b) a communication was made or document was prepared in furtherance of the commission of the fraud, offence or act; (4) For subsection (2) (k), if— (a) the abuse of power is a fact in issue; and (b) there are reasonable grounds for finding that a communication was made or document was prepared in furtherance of the abuse of power; (5) In this section— (a) a reference to a dispute is a reference to a dispute of a kind in relation to which relief may be given in an Australian or overseas proceeding; and (b) a reference to an attempt to negotiate the settlement of a dispute does not include a reference to an attempt to negotiate the settlement of a criminal proceeding or an anticipated criminal proceeding; and (c) a reference to a communication made by a person in dispute includes a reference to a communication made by an employee or agent of the person; and (d) a reference to the consent of a person in dispute includes a reference to the consent of an employee or agent of the person, if the employee or agent is authorised to consent; and General Division 3.10.4 (e) a reference to commission of an act includes a reference to a failure to act. power means a power given by or under an Australian law.