153. Gazettes and other official documents

153. Gazettes and other official documents

(1) It is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that a document purporting-

(a) to be any government or official gazette (by whatever name called) of this State, the Commonwealth, another State, a Territory or a foreign country; or

(b) to have been printed by the Government Printer of this State, or by the government or official printer of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or

(c) to have been printed by authority of the government or administration
of this State, the Commonwealth, another State, a Territory or a
foreign country-

is what it purports to be and was published on the day on which it purports to have been published.

(2) If-

(a) there is produced to a court-

(i) a copy of any government or official gazette (by whatever name called) of this State, the Commonwealth, another State, a Territory or a foreign country; or

(ii) a document that purports to have been printed by the Government Printer of this State, or by the government or official printer of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or

(iii) a document that purports to have been printed by authority of the government or administration of this State, the Commonwealth, another State, a Territory or a foreign country; and

(b) the doing of an act-

(i) by the Governor-General or by the Governor of a State or the Administrator of a Territory; or

(ii) by a person authorised or empowered to do the act by an Australian law or a law of a foreign country- is notified or published in the copy or document- it is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that the act was duly done and, if the day on which the act was done appears in the copy or document, it was done on that day. Note Section 5 of the Commonwealth Act extends the operation of section 153 of the Commonwealth Act to proceedings in all Australian courts.

In the summary jurisdiction, this provision will remove the prosecution's obligation to tender Regulations, as commonly occurs in the hearing of traffic charges.