Australia’s defamation laws will be amended to help end massive payouts, clear the country’s clogged courthouses and allow journalists to report more freely.
The nation’s Attorneys-General met on Monday, where they approved wide-ranging reforms to the law, which will help bring it up to date with other countries.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman said Australia’s defamation laws were enacted before social media and online news coverage existed, and had not been updated since 2005, despite a rapid rate of change in the way things were shared online.
“Social media has resulted in an explosion of minor cases over minor personal slights, clogging courts with costly litigation out of all proportion to the actual complaint,” he said.
“These reforms will bring defamation laws into the modern era, improving the balance between protecting reputations and free speech.”
A cap on damages for non-economic loss will be clarified under the reforms, reducing the likelihood of big payouts, and journalists will be eligible to use a public interest defence, similar to that in the UK.
This includes a new burden on anyone looking to sue a publication to have to prove actual or likely serious harm to their reputation, the limitation period on online publications will be measured to when an article was uploaded, not when it was last downloaded, and plaintiffs will have to provide a concerns notice, with adequate time for a response, before they can launch legal action.
Mr Speakman said the reforms would be a “generational change”, but there was more to be done.
The second stage of this change will see the Attorneys-General consider the responsibilities and liability of digital platforms for defamatory material published online.
The Council of Attorneys-General decided on Monday to design a national scheme which deals with the online footprint of a person who has died, or is deemed incapable of making their own decisions.
These records include social media accounts, but also things like online bank accounts.
The Council also discussed a push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, but did not reach a decision on Monday.
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2020-07-27 07:39:11Z
CBMihAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9jb3VydHMtbGF3L25ldy1kZWZhbWF0aW9uLWxhd3MtdG8tZW5kLWNyaXBwbGluZy1wYXlvdXRzL25ld3Mtc3RvcnkvYWFlOGJiZWU1MjIzMzYzNTg0MjE5MTg4NDQ2MGZlZWPSAYQBaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAubmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvY291cnRzLWxhdy9uZXctZGVmYW1hdGlvbi1sYXdzLXRvLWVuZC1jcmlwcGxpbmctcGF5b3V0cy9uZXdzLXN0b3J5L2FhZThiYmVlNTIyMzM2MzU4NDIxOTE4ODQ0NjBmZWVj
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