ACAT evidence checklist: documents, photos and witness statements for a civil dispute hearing

For an ACAT civil dispute, your evidence is every document, photo, receipt, report and witness statement you rely on. You give copies to ACAT and to every other party before the hearing, by the dates in the directions ACAT makes in your case. If evidence arrives late, the ACAT Member may not consider it, so the checklist below is built around those dates.

Claim Done drafts a Hearing Bundle from your answers for a flat A$97: a chronology, a statement of issues, an evidence index, a position statement and draft orders, each as its own PDF.

Who this applies to

ACAT can hear civil claims up to $25,000 (as at November 2026), about things like contracts, damages, debt, goods and nuisance. The ACAT civil disputes page says you are responsible for preparing and presenting your own case, whether you are the applicant, the respondent or a third party. ACAT staff can give you procedural information, but not legal advice.

A civil dispute is first listed for a directions hearing. There, the Member or Registrar tells the parties what they need to do next. The directions hearing page says this includes the timeframe for things such as providing supporting documents. Bring your documents, your evidence and any letters from the other party or ACAT to that hearing. Parties are required to comply with directions.

What ACAT expects you to provide

ACAT says to gather all your documents and evidence, and to consider whether you need a timeline, witness statements, submissions or subpoenas. Usually the directions will require you to give a copy of your supporting documents to ACAT and to every other party.

The final hearings page lists the kinds of supporting documents ACAT means: witness statements, a timeline, letters, emails, receipts, contracts, reports, photographs and assessments. Evidence can also be physical evidence. Provide all of it before the hearing, within the timeframe in the directions. Once a hearing has ended, parties cannot provide more documents, evidence or submissions unless ACAT makes an order allowing it.

If your case is a building dispute about defects, the parties may be required to fill in and lodge a Scott schedule.

Your ACAT evidence checklist

Witness statements

ACAT may ask the parties and their witnesses for written statements and will set deadlines for them. According to the ACAT witness statements page, each statement must be lodged with ACAT and a copy given to every other party, unless ACAT has ordered otherwise. If you do not lodge and serve a statement from a witness you want to call, the other party can object, and ACAT may not allow that witness to give evidence.

A witness statement needs:

• the witness’s name, address, occupation and telephone number
• all the evidence they will give, in a logical order, from the first event to the last
• labelled attachments for any document it refers to, for example “Attachment A”
• numbered paragraphs and page numbers
• the witness’s signature and the date.

ACAT has a witness statement template on that page. A witness who gives a statement must be available to give evidence at the hearing. If you are worried a witness will not come, you can subpoena them, and you need to give them conduct money to cover the cost of complying. For a witness interstate, leave at least 6 weeks before the hearing to organise an interstate subpoena. A witness who wants to give evidence by video or phone needs ACAT’s permission.

Expert reports

A party may ask an expert to write a report about the issues. Their statement should set out their qualifications and experience and explain how they can comment on the issues. It can also set out the facts and assumptions behind each opinion and the reasons for it.

How to lodge, serve and present it

ACAT makes directions in each case about how and when documents are lodged and served. The lodging and serving page says civil dispute documents can be lodged by post or at the ACAT counter. Email to the tribunal is accepted only when the documents total less than 40 pages, there are fewer than three attachments and no fee is payable. ACAT will not take zip files, cloud storage links or colour documents such as photographs by email. Provide copies: one for each party and one for ACAT.

The presenting your documents page says to:

1. clearly identify each document and who is lodging or serving it
2. show the ACAT reference number
3. put the documents in a logical order
4. include page numbers
5. clearly label any attachments or photographs
6. consider a ring binder folder if you have a lot of documents
7. lodge and serve by the due date you are given.

A cover page helps, and if you lodge more than one document, consider an index. Large amounts go in bundles of no more than 250 A4 sheets.

ACAT has no discovery process. To get a document someone else holds, the ACAT subpoenas page explains how to ask for a subpoena to get it.

How a hearing bundle is structured

The Claim Done bundle has five parts:

• Chronology of events. A numbered table of date and event, earliest first, facts only. ACAT’s timeline guidance also asks you to list the documents that support each event, so add the exhibit number beside each one before you lodge it.
• Statement of issues. Each point in dispute written as a question for ACAT to decide.
• Evidence index. A numbered list of your exhibits with a description, the date and the issue each one goes to.
• Position statement. A summary, the key facts and how the law applies to them.
• Draft orders. The exact orders you ask ACAT to make, with amounts.

The bundle does not include witness statements and does not copy your documents. You still attach the exhibits themselves, sign anything that needs signing, and lodge and serve it all as your directions say.

Mistakes to avoid

• Missing the due date in the directions. Late evidence may not be considered.
• Bringing evidence to the hearing that you never gave the other party.
• Calling a witness who has not lodged and served a statement.
• Not reading what the other party has given you before the hearing.
• Emailing colour photos or a cloud link instead of lodging them properly.

If your hearing date is set and your papers are scattered, the Hearing Bundle puts your chronology, issues, evidence index, position and orders in order for a flat A$97, ready for you to check, sign off and lodge.