Section 175 - Copies of official writings

(1) A copy of a writing which is authorised by law to be filed or recorded and has in fact been filed or recorded in an office of a public entity or which is a public record, report, statement or data compilation is admissible to the same extent as an original to prove the content of the writing if

(a) an original or an original record is in an office of a public entity where items of that nature are regularly kept; and

(b) the copy is certified to be correct by the custodian or other person authorised to make the certification, and that certificate is authenticated or the copy is testified to be a correct copy by a witness who has compared it with an original.

(2) Where a copy which complies with subsection (1) cannot be obtained by the exercise of reasonable diligence, other evidence of the content of the writing is admissible to the same extent as an original.