At trial, parties do not usually give oral evidence in chief. Evidence is usually presented through affidavits which must be sworn, filed and served on the parties before the trial. Directions for the dates for completing this task are usually given at the pre hearing conference and a compliance check ensues.

The affidavit sets out the evidence in chief of each witness proposed to be called by a party. In the case of the applicant or the respondent their affidavit should be comprehensive. The following matters should normally be addressed:

As with all affidavits, the deponents should only include factual matters and should not include speculations or expressions of opinion. They should also be free of hearsay, that is, evidence of things which are not within the parent's personal knowledge but have been gleaned from other sources such as second hand reports, the media or text books. A parent is not considered by the court to be an expert in respect of their child, so they should not include their opinion about the child's mental or physical health.

Family assessments/counselling reports

Section 62G(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) provides for the court to direct a family consultant (court counsellor) to make a report. In making a report, the consultant will commonly interview each parent and child individually, unless the child is of an age or maturity where this is inappropriate. Commonly also the consultant will observe interactions between the child and each party. Conversations with a consultant are not confidential. A report is prepared for the court and circulated to the parties. Although the consultant's opinion is not binding on the court and is just another opinion to be considered with the rest of the evidence, as it is an independent assessment of the situation it is generally persuasive.

Because of the high demand for reports, it is not practicable to obtain family assessment reports on an interim basis and they can normally only be ordered at a pre-hearing conference. For this reason, the parties sometimes arrange for a family assessment by a private practitioner to have a report available sooner. Where the parties agree, they can do this without the appointment of an independent children's lawyer, but if agreement cannot be reached then an application for an independent children's lawyer to be appointed may result in the representative arranging a family assessment. Parents are usually required to contribute to the cost of the family assessment, and where they are unable to do so and are not legally aided, the report ordered by the court is an alternative.

Psychological reports

Although a party can ask the Federal Circuit and Family Court to order a child to undergo a psychiatric or psychological assessment, this should only be done in appropriate cases. The court can give any direction relating to the assessment that appears necessary having regard to the welfare of the child. Where a direction of the court has not been obtained, the court can refuse to admit the report in evidence unless all parties gave written consent to the referral. Where someone is threatening to obtain a psychological assessment it may be possible to obtain an injunction preventing it.

Expert witnesses

As part of the pre-action procedures, a party may require that information be sought from an expert witness. The rules about instructing and obtaining reports from an expert are in Chapter 7 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).

In summary:

Cross-examination

Witnesses can be cross-examined as part of family law proceedings. Special protections exist for the personal cross-examination of a party in family law proceedings where there is an allegation of family violence and certain criteria are met. For more information, see Family Violence and Cross-Examination of Parties Scheme.