Personal Injury Law

How do I make an Affidavit in NSW?

You (the deponent) make an Affidavit by swearing or affirming that the Affidavit’s contents are true before a witness who must be one of the following:

• A Justice of the peace (“JP”)
• A Solicitor
• A Barrister
• A Commissioner for affidavits
• A Notary public.

Mandatory Requirements

You MUST:

• Sign in the presence of the witness
• Sgn the foot of each page (excluding annexures)
• Initial any alterations, additions or erasures.

You or the witness MUST:

• Write or type the date in the title at the top of the front page of the Affidavit and in the introductory paragraph of the Affidavit
• Delete the word ‘Affirmed’, if you have taken an oath OR delete the word ‘Sworn’, if you have made an affirmation.

Following this, the witness MUST sign:

• underneath the words ‘Sworn (or Affirmed) at [place]’
• at the foot of each page of the Affidavit (although there is no need for the witness or deponent to sign the first page if it is only the title page of the Affidavit, containing none of the substance)
• the certificate endorsed on any annexure
• the certificate attached to any exhibit.

The witness must initial any alterations, additions or erasures (see UCPR 35.5).

The Affidavit MUST include:

• the witnesses’ name and address
• the JP’s registration number, if relevant.

If the witness is a JP, the JP may provide his or her registration number as a JP in place of the JP’s address.

JPs must write their registration number on any document they sign or witness as a JP in accordance with the “Guidelines for Justices of the Peace” developed in accordance with requirements under the Justices of the Peace Act 2002 (NSW) and the Justices of the Peace Regulation 2014 (NSW) and outlined in the Justices of the Peace Handbook.

If the witness is a notary public, the notary public must apply his or her seal.

Where an Affidavit or witness statement is being taken and the deponent or the witness requires an interpreter, the interpreter must give a certification in the form contained within the forms.

Annexures to an Affidavit

See UCPR 35.6 for more information.

If you are annexing documents to an Affidavit, you must include a certificate on the annexure that contains the following information.

The certificate must not be on a separate page from the annexure.

The pages of the Affidavit and the annexures must be consecutively numbered in a single series of numbers.

NSW Workers Compensation Commission (WCC): Appeal Procedure

1️⃣  If an appeal is to be made against the decision of an Arbitrator, the application must be made to the Registrar, within 28 days of the Arbitrator’s decision, to have the appeal heard by a Presidential member: Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) s 352(1)-(2)(‘The 1998 Act’); Workers Compensation Commission Rules 2011 (NSW) r 16.2.

2️⃣  If an appeal is to be made against the decision of a Presidential member, the appeal lies to the NSW Court of Appeal: The 1998 Act s 353(1), (5); Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) s 48(1)(a)(vii), (2)(f).

3️⃣  If the appeal being made relates to any of the following a Summons Seeking Leave [that is, consent] to Appeal to the Court of Appeal is required: The 1998 Act s 353(4):

353 APPEAL AGAINST DECISION OF COMMISSION CONSTITUTED BY PRESIDENTIAL MEMBER

…

(4) The following appeals under this section may be made only with leave of the Court of Appeal--

(a) an appeal from an interlocutory decision,

(b) an appeal from a decision as to costs only,

(c) an appeal where the amount of compensation in dispute is less than $20,000 (or such other amount as may be prescribed by the regulations),

(d) an appeal from a decision made with the consent of the parties.

4️⃣ The rules applying to the general procedure in appealing to the NSW Court of Appeal, as set out in this FAQ apply to appeals against a decision of a WCC Presidential member: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 51.1 (‘UCPR’).

Credits:

The above overview of the NSW Workers Compensation Commission (WCC) Appeal procedure was prepared by Shakvaan Wijetunga | Virtual Intern, Blue Ocean Law Group℠.

Important Notice:‍

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.

What is the iWitnessed App?

The iWitnessed App is a great locally developed [free to download] technology tool to help collect a contemporaneous record of any incident or crime!

Extracted from the App Store Preview Summary Page:

"iWitnessed helps to collect and preserve eyewitness evidence. It has lots of useful features to help witnesses and victims record the details of the event they experienced.

iWitnessed has been designed by Psychological scientists who are experts in eyewitness memory and police interviewing.

iWitnessed uses a guided recall procedure that has been designed to maximise the value of the information recorded while also helping protect your memory of the event."

Why was the iWitnessed App created?

“Why we made iWitnessed, an app to collect evidence” by Helen M. Paterson [April 2018].

Extracted from the article:

"Eyewitness evidence can be critical to investigations and trials.

However, research shows that eyewitness memory can be inaccurate and vulnerable to distortion depending on what happens next – for example, inaccurate information encountered through leading questions, discussion with other witnesses, or journalists.

This is particularly true when there is a long delay between witnessing an event and reporting the details to police. We forget details very rapidly, and the more we forget, the more our memories become prone to inaccuracies.

Anyone with a device

"iWitnessed is designed to be used by anyone within Australia with a smartphone or tablet, and does not require high levels of literacy or language skills.

Users can type details using their keypad, and record spoken notes – standard voice-to-text functions also work in iWitnessed.

Responses do not need to be in English, allowing witnesses to use their preferred language to give the most accurate and detailed account."

Can iWitnessed evidence be used in court?

"Legally speaking, evidence collected using iWitnessed will be treated like contemporaneous notes.

Contemporaneous notes are witness accounts composed during or immediately after a critical event, and in court proceedings they can range from a note scribbled on the back of a napkin to a meticulous description of the event.

According to the Evidence Act 1995 NSW (sections 32 and 34), contemporaneous notes or contemporaneous recordings of events can be used to refresh the memory of a witness to an event. Even if very rudimentary, they can add to the reliability and strength of the evidence being given in court proceedings.

It is also possible that developments in evidence law may enable evidence collected using iWitnessed to become directly admissible. While there is some legislation on the admissibility of this type of evidence in court, this has not kept pace with the rapid development of modern technologies...".

The iWitnessed App is available for free download on both Apple and Android.

Credits:

The iWitnessed App was developed by a local team of eyewitness memory experts [Helen M. Paterson, Celine van Golde (The University of Sydney), Richard Kemp (UNSW Sydney), Nicholas Cowdery (former Director of Public Prosecution in NSW) and NSW police officers].

Important Notice:

This FAQ is intended for general interest + information only.

It is not legal advice, nor should it be relied upon or used as such.

We recommend you always consult a lawyer for legal advice specifically tailored to your needs & circumstances.