Date: 29 April 2025
Source: WA Government

Sweeping reforms of Western Australia's evidence laws to include enhanced protections for victims of crime and vulnerable people has been reintroduced to State Parliament.

The Evidence Bill 2025 will replace the Evidence Act 1906 and bring WA into line with most other State jurisdictions by moving to Australian Uniform Evidence Law, improving consistency and accessibility in court proceedings.

The Bill contains provisions that apply during evidence gathering and court procedures to support and protect witnesses in cases involving children, family and domestic violence (FDV), and sexual offending.

The proposed laws include:

• making special witness status mandatory for complainants in sexual offence cases, gang crime proceedings and specific FDV prosecutions, enabling them to have a support person or animal, prerecord their evidence or give evidence via video link or screening procedure;
• admitting as evidence in court recordings of FDV complainants made by police using body worn cameras or smartphones;
• enabling specially trained witness intermediaries to assist vulnerable witnesses, including children and people with specific communication needs, in giving evidence;

banning "Longman" warnings to juries that a complaint that is not made promptly after the alleged offence affects a complainant's credibility - directions considered...