(1) In this Act: offer to make amends means an offer to make amends made under section 9D.Territory of the Commonwealth includes a territory governed by the Commonwealth under a trusteeship agreement.
(1) If proceedings for defamation are tried before a jury, the court and not the jury is to determine whether the matter complained of is reasonably capable of carrying the imputation pleaded by the plaintiff and, if it is, whether the imputation is reasonably capable of bearing a defamatory meaning.
(1) A corporation has no cause of action for defamation in respect of the publication of any matter by means of which a defamatory imputation about the corporation is made.
(1) Where a person publishes any report, article, letter, note, picture, oral utterance or other thing, by means of which or by means of any part of which, and its publication, the publisher makes an imputation defamatory of another person, whether by innuendo or otherwise, then for the purposes of this section:
(a) that report, article, letter, note, picture, oral utterance or thing is a matter , and(b) the imputation is made by means of the publication of that matter. (2) Where a person publishes any matter to any recipient and by means of that publication makes an imputation defamatory of another person, the person defamed has, in respect of that imputation, a cause of action against the publisher for the publication of that matter to that recipient:
(a) in addition to any cause of action which the person defamed may have against the publisher for the publication of that matter to that recipient in respect of any other defamatory imputation made by means of that publication, and (b) in addition to any cause of action which the person defamed may have against that publisher for any publication of that matter to any other recipient.
(1) The publisher may make an offer to make amends to the aggrieved person. (2) The offer may be in relation to:
(a) the matter in question generally, or (b) a particular defamatory imputation that the publisher accepts that the matter in question carries (a qualified offer ).(3) An offer to make amends:
(a) must be in writing, and (b) must be readily identifiable as an offer to make amends under this section, and (c) must include an offer to publish, or join in publishing, a reasonable correction (if appropriate in the circumstances) of the matter in question, and (d) must include an offer to publish, or join in publishing, a reasonable apology (if appropriate in the circumstances) in relation to the matter in question, and (e) if material containing the matter has been given to someone else by the publisher or with the publisher’s knowledge—must include an offer to take, or join in taking, reasonable steps to tell the other person that the matter is or may be defamatory of the aggrieved person, and (f) must state whether it is a qualified offer and, if so, set out the defamatory imputation in relation to which it is made, and (g) must include an offer to pay the expenses reasonably incurred by the aggrieved person before the offer was made and the expenses reasonably incurred by the aggrieved person in considering the offer, (h) may include particulars of any correction or apology made, or action taken, before the date of the offer, and (i) may include an offer to pay compensation for any economic or non-economic loss of the aggrieved person. (4) For the purposes of subsection (3) (i), an offer to pay compensation may be in any of the following forms:
(a) an offer to pay a stated amount, (b) an offer to pay an amount to be agreed between the publisher and the aggrieved person or, if an agreement is not made, the amount decided by a court, (c) an offer to pay the amount decided by a court, (d) an offer to:
(i) enter into an arbitration agreement within the meaning of the , and Commercial Arbitration Act 1984 (ii) pay the amount decided by the arbitrator or, if an arbitration agreement is not made, the amount decided by a court. (5) The publisher may not make an offer to make amends after the earlier of:
(a) the end of 28 days after the day the aggrieved person gives the publisher notice in writing informing the publisher that the matter in question is or may be defamatory of the person, or (b) the service by the publisher of a defence in an action brought against the publisher by the aggrieved person in relation to the matter in question.
(1) If an offer to make amends is accepted, a court may:
(a) order the publisher to pay the aggrieved person the expenses incurred by the aggrieved person in accepting and performing the agreement made by acceptance of the offer (the amends agreement ), and(b) on the application of a party to the amends agreement, decide the amount of compensation mentioned in section 9D (4) (b), (c) or (d).
(1) There is a defence of absolute privilege for a publication to or by the Ombudsman, as Ombudsman, or to any officer of the Ombudsman, as such an officer. (2) Subsection (1) applies in relation to an acting Ombudsman, a Deputy Ombudsman and a special officer of the Ombudsman in the same way as it applies in relation to the Ombudsman.
(1) There is a defence of absolute privilege for a publication to or by the Privacy Commissioner, as Privacy Commissioner, or to any member of the staff of the Privacy Commissioner, as such a member.
(1) There is a defence of absolute privilege for a publication to or by the HomeFund Commissioner, as HomeFund Commissioner, or to any member of the staff of the HomeFund Commissioner, as such a member.
(1) Where, in respect of matter published to any person:
(a) the recipient has an interest or apparent interest in having information on some subject, (b) the matter is published to the recipient in the course of giving to the recipient information on that subject, and (c) the conduct of the publisher in publishing that matter is reasonable in the circumstances, there is a defence of qualified privilege for that publication.
(1) In this section, protected report means a report of proceedings specified in clause 2 of Schedule 2 as proceedings for the purposes of this definition.
(1) A person shall not, without lawful excuse, publish matter defamatory of another living person:
(a) with intent to cause serious harm to any person (whether the person defamed or not), or (b) where it is probable that the publication of the defamatory matter will cause serious harm to any person (whether the person defamed or not) with knowledge of that probability. Penalty: Imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine of such amount as the court may impose or both.
(1) This section applies to civil proceedings for defamation and to proceedings for an offence under section 50. (2) Subject to subsection (4), where there is a question of the truth of an imputation concerning any person, and the commission by that person of a criminal offence is relevant to that question, proof of the conviction by a court of that person for that offence is:
(a) if the conviction is by a court of an Australian State or of the Commonwealth or of a Territory of the Commonwealth, conclusive evidence that the person committed the offence, and (b) if the conviction is by a court of any other country, evidence that the person committed the offence.
(Sections 24, 25)
(Section 58)