Section 29 of the Uniform Evidence Acts provide:
Manner and form of questioning witnesses and their responses
(1) A party may question a witness in any way the party thinks fit, except as provided by this Chapter or as directed by the court.
(2) A court may, on its own motion or on the application of the party that called the witness, direct that the witness give evidence wholly or partly in narrative form.
(3) Such a direction may include directions about the way in which evidence is to be given in that form.
(4) Evidence may be given in the form of charts, summaries or other explanatory material if it appears to the court that the material would be likely to aid its comprehension of other evidence that has been given or is to be given.
They appear to barely have been used.
In the context of narrative evidence (subs (2)-(3)), the QLRC observed that the Uniform Evidence Acts were meant to assist Courts to encourage narrative evidence in appropriate circumstances, but noted that this had not occurred often. The QLRC also observed that courts have inherent jurisdiction to permit narrative evidence even without the Acts, but nonetheless such leave is rarely given.
There was no discussion at all about subs (4).
In Matthews v SPI Electricity Pty Limited (No. 34) [2014] VSC 40, the plaintiff argued that one of her witnesses ought to be permitted to refer to a physical model in the course of their giving evidence. This was opposed by the first defendant. The argument was resolved in the plaintiff’s favour not through s 29 but a broad application of the overarching obligations in the Victorian Civil Procedure Act.
Although there does not appear to be any authority which expounds a sensible approach, the practice of making ‘hearsay’ objections to evidence in chart form would appear to be squarely addressed by s 29(4) as well as s 50 (proof of complex or voluminous documents in ‘summary’ form).
Interestingly, there is a note to section 229 (jury documents) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2008 (Vic) which refers to s 29(4) and s 50 of the Evidence Act. Section 232 (manner of giving evidence) also provides that nothing in it affects the operation of ss 29 and 50 of the Evidence Act.