Section 14 — Evidence Act 1995 (Cth)

Compellability: reduced capacity

A person is not compellable to give evidence on a particular matter if the court is satisfied that:

(a) substantial cost or delay would be incurred in ensuring that the person would have the capacity to understand a question about the matter or to give an answer that can be understood to a question about the matter; and

(b) adequate evidence on that matter has been given, or will be able to be given, from one or more other persons or sources.

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 22 May 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Verify the current text against the official source before relying on it.

Related sections

s 11 — General powers of a court
s 12 — Competence and compellability
s 13 — Competence: lack of capacity
s 15 — Compellability: Sovereign and others
s 16 — Competence and compellability: judges and jurors
s 17 — Competence and compellability: defendants in criminal proceedings

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