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Where am I now? Lawlink > Administrative Decisions Tribunal of NSW > Practice and Procedures > Practice Notes > Practice Note Number 10
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ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS TRIBUNAL PRACTICE NOTE No. 10 All Divisions : Access to the Tribunal - Use of Telephone and Video Links 1. General 1.1 The Tribunal's normal practice at final hearings is to require the parties and their witnesses to attend to give oral evidence. However, the Tribunal recognises that there may be circumstances where this is either not possible or not necessary. 1.2 The purpose of this Practice Note is to explain the Tribunal's procedure in relation to the use of telephone and video links at final hearing. 1.3 This Practice Note does not apply to various matters where the Tribunal routinely uses telephone links such as directions hearings or applications for urgent stays. 2. Applications for the use of telephone and video links to receive oral evidence at hearings 2.1 A party wishing to use telephone or video links should make an application in writing to the Tribunal. This should occur as soon as the party becomes aware of the need for the application, and not later than 14 days prior to the hearing. The application must explain the nature of the difficulty which makes it impractical for a party or witness to attend, or refer to a special factor such as the desirability of a witness not being in the physical presence of another person attending the hearing. 2.2 Where a multi member panel is hearing the matter, if the application is not by consent, the full panel of the Tribunal will need to be convened to hear the application. 2.3 The Tribunal may also consider telephone or video links of its own motion, where appropriate, to avoid sitting in a location distant from its main registry in Sydney for all or part of the proceedings. 2.4 Any decision to use telephone or video links will be made after consideration of the views of the parties on the matter including the ability to adequately cross examine witnesses. 3. Arrangements for Video Links 3.1 As the Tribunal does not have video link facilities at its Elizabeth Street, Sydney registry the Tribunal will need to sit elsewhere eg Supreme Court, Compensation Court, Local Court, Industrial Relations Commission or Mental Health Review Tribunal. 3.2 As the date needs to be fixed in consultation with the other venue, this will usually mean that a date will not be able to be fixed immediately. To that end parties will need to provide the Tribunal with a wide range of available dates for the hearing. 4. Cost: Video Links 4.1 As a general principle, if the video link is being conducted for the convenience of the Tribunal, eg to avoid sitting for all or part of the hearing distant from its main registry in Sydney, the Tribunal will bear the cost of the video link. 4.2 The exception to this general principle is where a party chooses to have a witness give evidence by video link rather than bringing the witness to the hearing. In that case the party will bear the cost of the video link, as it would otherwise bear the cost of the witnesses’ travel expenses. In these cases it is the responsibility of the party who requests the video link to make the appropriate arrangements with a service provider at the witness’ location. The Tribunal will organise the venue in Sydney. Original issued 31 July 2002 Re-issued with amendments 12 September 2002 Re-issued with amendments 24 December 2002 Re-issued with amendments 23 February 2006 Judge KEVIN O'CONNOR President |
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