The Federal Court of Australia has produced Guidelines for Expert Witnesses in Proceedings. These are available at www.fedcourt.gov.au/digital-law-library/judges-speeches/justice-middleton/Middleton-J-200710.rtf.
The guidelines are not intended to address all aspects of an expert witness’s duties, but are intended to facilitate the admission of opinion evidence, and to assist experts to understand in general terms what the Court expects of an expert witness giving opinion evidence. It is also hoped that the guidelines will assist individual expert witnesses to avoid the criticism that is sometimes made (whether rightly or wrongly) that expert witnesses lack objectivity, or have coloured their evidence in favour of the party calling them.
The Australian Council of Professions had previously published basic Guidelines on Role and Duties of Expert Witnesses.