Important updates to Australian defamation law

8.02.21

Keeping informed about defamation law is important for authors, particularly if you're a non-fiction author who publishes statements about real people who may dispute the way they've been characterised.

Australia’s defamation laws are currently going through significant reform. Last year, NSW passed the Defamation Amendment Act 2020 (NSW) which is likely to give authors and publishers greater peace of mind when publishing works that contain a risk of defamation. The Act is not yet in force, but will introduce many important changes such as:

• A new element of serious harm, which raises the threshold of what an aggrieved person will need to prove to succeed in a defamation claim;
• A new public interest defence, where a defendant can try to prove that the matter concerned an issue of public interest and they reasonably believed the publication of it was in the public interest.
• A mandatory concerns notice provision, making it essential for an aggrieved person to notify the publisher of a work before starting legal action, in order to try to reach a settlement.

Other Australian states and territories are also in the process of reforming their defamation laws. Read the Arts Law's information sheet on defamation law here. Read about the nationally agreed Model Defamation provisions here.

If you need advice on defamation law, please seek advice from a qualified lawyer. You can contact the Arts Law Centre of Australia, the national community legal centre for creators.