When new tightened defamation laws come into effect

Defamation laws will be tightened to protect against their “chilling effect” on important public debate and to kill off legal cases in which no real damage has occurred. See when they will come into effect.

Defamation laws will be tightened to protect against their “chilling effect” on important public debate and to kill off legal cases in which no real damage has occurred.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman has introduced new legislation – likely to commence on July 1 – to bring a national consensus to defamation laws, lessening complications when material is published across states and preventing “forum shopping” by aggrieved parties.

“This is a significant step to protect freedom of expression for Queenslanders, and ensure open and transparent reporting in our state,” Ms Fentiman said.

Key changes will include a new public interest defence modelled on UK laws “in order to guard against the potential chilling effect defamation laws have on debates on matters of legitimate public interest and to protect reasonable public interest journalism,” Ms Fentiman said.

“This defence applies where the defendant can prove that the statement complained of was, or formed part of, a statement on a matter of public interest and the defendant reasonably believed that publishing the statement was in the public interest.”

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The Bill provides a list of factors the court may take into account when considering the defence, including the seriousness of the defamatory imputation, whether the matter published relates to the performance of the public functions or activities of the person and the importance of freedom of expression in the discussion of issues of public interest.

A second new defence will apply to peer-reviewed statements in scientific or academic journals.

The new laws will also require the plaintiff to establish they have been seriously harmed, deterring the bringing of claims for trivial matters, and parties will be encouraged to resolve matters before litigation.

“If the defamatory matter has not caused, or is unlikely to cause, serious harm to the reputation of the plaintiff, or serious financial harm to a corporation, an action can be dispensed with early in the proceedings rather than being the subject of lengthy and expensive litigation,” Ms Fentiman said.

Action will be allowed one year after the date of publication, including for online articles, changing current rules that view the downloading of an article as a publication and lengthen the timeline for litigation to be launched.

And laws will be rewritten to make it plain that the maximum amount allowed to be awarded for damages of non-economic loss - covering hurt feelings and damage to reputation - should only apply in the most serious cases, although aggravated damages will be able to be awarded separately.