Maritime Union of Australia v Geraldton Port Authority [1999] FCA 685

Maritime Union of Australia v Geraldton Port Authority [1999] FCA 685

The third respondent's affidavit was introduced into evidence in the proceeding, so the attempted qualification that certain annexures were not introduced against the first or fourth respondents was ineffective; however, the qualification that document P155 was not introduced as evidence of the truth of its contents was effective. Relevance was to be assessed in the proceeding as a whole, while admissibility for truth depended on the Evidence Act exceptions. Many objections were allowed where hearsay, opinion, unidentified authorship or handwriting, or lack of foundation for s 69 business records was established. Documents P155 and P158 were not admissible as truth of their contents by...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
21 May 1999
Procedural Posture
Evidence Admissibility Rulings in Federal Court Proceeding / Rulings on Objections to Evidence Made at the Close of the Hearing of Oral Evidence
Outcome
Objections to evidence allowed in part, disallowed in part, withdrawn in part, or admitted on limited bases; Ahern objections reserved for final submissions.
Legal Topics
['admissibility of Documentary Evidence' 'relevance' 'hearsay' 'business Records Exception' 'admissions by Agents' 'opinion Evidence' 'limited Tender of Evidence' 'ahern Principle' 'parliamentary Privilege']
['evidence' 'civil Procedure' 'industrial Relations'] ['admissibility of Documentary Evidence' 'relevance' 'hearsay' 'business Records Exception' 'admissions by Agents' 'opinion Evidence' 'limited Tender of Evidence' 'ahern Principle' 'parliamentary Privilege']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Evidence Admissibility Rulings in Federal Court Proceeding / Rulings on Objections to Evidence Made at the Close of the Hearing of Oral Evidence

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether a document introduced into evidence by one respondent, or without objection by one respondent, can be objected to by another respondent as inadmissible against that respondent.' 'Whether a party tendering affidavit evidence can limit the tender so that annexures are not read against particular respondents or are not admitted for the truth of their contents.' 'Whether objections to documents on grounds including relevance, hearsay, opinion, unidentified authorship or handwriting, business records, agency, admissions, Workplace Relations Act attribution and parliamentary privilege should be allowed or disallowed.' 'Whether documents P155 and P158 could be admitted as evidence of the truth of their contents or only on the limited basis that advice was given.']

Ratio Decidendi

The third respondent's affidavit was introduced into evidence in the proceeding, so the attempted qualification that certain annexures were not introduced against the first or fourth respondents was ineffective; however, the qualification that document P155 was not introduced as evidence of the truth of its contents was effective. Relevance was to be assessed in the proceeding as a whole, while admissibility for truth depended on the Evidence Act exceptions. Many objections were allowed where hearsay, opinion, unidentified authorship or handwriting, or lack of foundation for s 69 business records was established. Documents P155 and P158 were not admissible as truth of their contents by...

Court Disposition

Objections to evidence allowed in part, disallowed in part, withdrawn in part, or admitted on limited bases; Ahern objections reserved for final submissions.

Orders

  • ['Document P7: objection disallowed.' 'Document P15: objection disallowed.' 'Document P26: objection disallowed.' 'Document P50: objection disallowed.' "Document P66: admitted on the basis that '25/8' means 25 August 1998." 'Document P71: objection disallowed.' 'Documents P80, P80A, P82 and P83: objections...