“What evidence do I need?” is the most common question self-represented parties ask before a tribunal hearing. The honest answer is: enough to prove every fact you assert, in a form the tribunal can read, indexed so the member can find it. That is true in NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, SAT, SACAT, ACAT, NTCAT and the Magistrates Court of Tasmania alike.
The legal standard
Australian civil tribunals decide on the balance of probabilities — more likely than not. That is a lower standard than the criminal “beyond reasonable doubt”, but it still requires actual evidence for each fact. The tribunal member cannot infer facts from your confidence; they can only decide on what is in front of them.
The four evidence categories
- Documentary — contracts, invoices, emails, text messages, photographs, bank statements, official records
- Witness — first-person accounts from anyone who saw, heard, did or experienced relevant facts, in signed witness-statement form
- Expert — opinion evidence from a qualified expert, in report form, for technical questions like building defects, valuations, or vehicle damage
- Real — physical objects (a damaged item, a defective product) brought to the hearing for the member to inspect
What you typically need for a money claim
For a typical unpaid-debt or consumer-claim hearing, the evidence package looks like: the underlying contract or accepted quote, evidence of performance, the invoice or bill, communications showing the debt was acknowledged, any Letter of Demand sent, a bank statement extract showing non-payment, and a witness statement tying it together. That is the minimum — more complex cases (building disputes, professional negligence) add expert reports.
Common pitfalls
Three errors recur. Treating “I will explain at the hearing” as a strategy — tribunals decide on documents, not improvised speeches. Hearsay without the witness — relying on what others told you, without producing a statement from those people. Documents not exhibited to a witness statement — loose documents handed up at the hearing have weak evidentiary status; documents exhibited to a sworn statement are evidence.
What the document does
A Witness Statement is the keystone. It is the document that converts a folder of papers into evidence the tribunal can rely on, by attaching each document as an exhibit and explaining its relevance in numbered paragraphs.
What Claim Done delivers
For a flat $79, Claim Done drafts your Witness Statement in the correct tribunal format — numbered paragraphs, exhibited annexures, statement of truth, signature block. About 15 minutes in the wizard, no solicitor appointment.
What happens after
The witness statement is filed and served on the other party under directions. The next document you typically need is a Hearing Bundle, which collates the witness statements and exhibits into one paginated set for the hearing day.