This Act may be cited as the Evidence Amendment Act 1990 and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Evidence Act 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

This Act shall come into force on the 1st day of July 1990.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

Judicial notice shall be taken of Australian Acts and Australian regulations.

Subject to any rules made under the authority of any other Act, and to any contrary direction by the Court—

Judicial notice shall be taken of—

if the signature or the impression appears on an official or judicial document.

Every copy of an Australian Act and every copy of any Australian regulations appearing to have been printed or published, whether before or after the commencement of this section, by the Government Printer of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia or of the Government of a State or Territory of Australia or under the authority of such Government shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed—

In this section official Australian document means a document that appears to be made or issued by a person who appears to have, under an Australian Act, the authority or power to make or issue it.

Prima facie evidence of the making or issue of an official Australian document may be given by producing—

In this section public document means an official or public document; and includes a certificate, an entry in a register, and a record of any proceedings.

Without limiting subsection (4) of this section, a public document that is admissible in evidence under an Australian Act is admissible in evidence to the same extent and for the same purpose if it appears to be sealed, stamped, signed, signed and sealed, or signed and stamped in accordance with that Act.

A certified copy of, or a certified extract from, a public document that is admissible in evidence pursuant to subsection (2) of this section is also admissible in evidence.

A public document that is admissible in evidence under Australian law, to any extent or for any purpose, without proof of—

is admissible in evidence to the same extent and for the same purpose without such proof.

A copy of, or extract from, an Australian document that is, by reason of its public nature, admissible in evidence in Australia merely on its production from the proper custody, is admissible in evidence if—

If, under an Australian Act or an Australian regulation, the Governor-General of Australia or a Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, or the Governor, Administrator, or a Minister of a State or a Territory of Australia, as the case may be, is authorised or empowered to do, exercise, or perform any act, power, function, or duty, production of an Australian Government Gazette or a Gazette of a State or Territory of Australia, as the case may be, purporting to contain a notice of the doing, exercise, or performance of the act, power, function, or duty is evidence that it was lawfully done, exercised, or performed.

This section substituted s 41 of the principal Act.

Nothing in this Act limits or affects the provisions of any other Act or a rule of law relating to the admissibility of evidence or the taking of judicial notice of a matter or thing.