Defamatory publications rarely stop at state and territory borders.From July 1, the defamation laws in NSW and the ACT are changing in tandem to introduce new defences, including a defence to help Facebook page administrators fend off costly claims over comments by others.
For the next 15 years, Australia had close to perfect uniformity in defamation laws across the country. But cracks emerged in 2021, and again this year.The law in NSW and the ACT, which includes two waves of changes to the 2006 law; Queensland and Tasmania committed to the second round of changes, but it is not clear when it will pass legislation to effect them. Victoria is also committed to the changes andthat the state was “not implementing all the reforms that deal with ... internet publishing”. SA is expected to introduce the changes relating to complaints to police “in the not too distant future”.
“In Western Australia and the Northern Territory, where those reforms are yet to be enacted, it is obviously easier for plaintiffs to bring a claim in defamation.”Dr Michael Douglas, a defamation lawyer at Perth firm Bennett, said: “I think that the NSW-led reforms, although they got attorneys-general to agree, didn’t have a genuine consensus.
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