Federal Court. Can it be said that, "once a view is taken that a witness has been untruthful in one respect, it can and often does affect, consciously or subconsciously, the assessment of the witness’s remaining evidence, whether that other evidence was given before or after the supposedly untruthful evidence"?
Some of the questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:
Question 1: Can it be said that "decision-makers commonly express their reasons sequentially; but that does not mean that they decide each factual issue in isolation from the others"?
Question 2: Can it be said that, "once a view is taken that a witness has been untruthful in one respect, it can and often does affect, consciously or subconsciously, the assessment of the witness’s remaining evidence, whether that other evidence was given before or after the supposedly untruthful evidence"?
The FCA answered those questions as follows: