16Requiring attendance of witness or production of document

16 Requiring attendance of witness or production of document

(1)  The Court may, on the application of a party to proceedings or on its own initiative, issue a summons.

(2)  A summons may do one or more of the following:

(a) require a person to appear before the Court at a specified time and place;

(b) require a person to give evidence;

(c) require a person to produce a document;

(d) bring a child before the Court at a specified time and place.

(3)  A summons requiring the production of a document may, instead of providing for production of the material before the Court, provide for production of the document to an officer of the Court nominated in the summons.

(4)  A person must not, without reasonable excuse, fail or refuse to comply with a summons.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 20 penalty units.

(5)  The Court may issue a warrant to have a person arrested and brought before the Court if –

(a) the person fails or refuses to comply with a summons without reasonable excuse; or

(b) there are grounds for believing that, if a summons were issued, the person would fail or refuse to comply with it without reasonable excuse.

(6)  The Court may issue a warrant to have a child taken into the safe custody of the Secretary and brought before the Court as soon as practicable if –

(a) a person fails or refuses to comply with a summons to bring the child before the Court without reasonable excuse; or

(b) there are grounds for believing that, if such a summons were issued, the person would fail or refuse to comply with it without reasonable excuse.

(7)  A person served with a summons requiring his or her appearance before the Court may, at any reasonable time before the time he or she is required to appear, apply for an advance of a reasonable sum towards the costs and expenses of appearing as required.

(8)  An application under subsection (7) is to be made to –