Declarations and statutory declarations

A declaration is a statement you write and sign to confirm it is true. This is different from a statutory declaration. You do not need to sign a declaration in front of a witness.

Find all declarations on the Forms page.

To sign the declaration, you can do any of the following:

• print the declaration and sign by hand.
• insert or attach your electronic signature to the declaration document (Word or PDF).
• if you use our form and lodge it by email or online, you can type your name in the box next to the word ‘Signature’.

You must complete a declaration for some applications, such as:

• Enterprise agreements
• Protected action ballot orders.

The rules changed on 1 May 2020. Before that date, the Fair Work Commission Rules 2013 required statutory declarations for a range of different cases and matters.

A statutory declaration is a statement you write and sign in front of a witness. This shows you are declaring the statement is true.

Download the template: Statutory declaration form (doc)

You must use a statutory declaration to apply for a work, health and safety entry permit.

You can choose to use a statutory declaration to give us witness statements in other cases.

When you use the statutory declaration form, you need to give us:

• the case (matter) number from the main application
• the name of the applicant from the main application
• the name(s) of the respondent(s).

This is Rule 20 of the Fair Work Commission Rules 2024.

Witnesses for a statutory declaration

A witness is a person who sees you sign a statutory declaration. Only certain people have the right to witness a statutory declaration.

See the Attorney General’s website for:

• who can witness a statutory declaration
• what a witness should do

In some cases, you may have to come to the Commission and:

• swear an oath or affirmation that your declaration or statutory declaration is true
• give evidence under an oath or affirmation about details in your statement.

It is a serious offence to lie (give ‘false or misleading’ evidence) to the Commission. This is section 678 of the Fair Work Act 2009. The penalty can be up to 12 months in prison.

The information you write in a declaration or statutory declaration must be true and accurate. If you write something and you know it is not true (it is ‘false or misleading’), it is a serious offence. The penalty if you break the law can be a prison sentence.

See 136.1, 137.1 and 137.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

The penalty if you deliberately make a false statement in a statutory declaration can be a prison sentence of up to 4 years. This is in section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.