Law Society welcomes agreement on reform of national defamation laws

NSW Law Society

A much-anticipated overhaul of the nation’s defamation laws, agreed upon at today’s Council of Attorneys-General (CAG), has been welcomed by the Law Society of NSW.

Attorney General Mark Speakman SC, who has led the reform process, today announced that his state and territory counterparts have agreed on amendments to the Model Defamation Provisions.
President of the Law Society of NSW, Richard Harvey, congratulated the NSW Attorney General for his commitment to the national reforms.
“The Law Society made a lengthy submission on the Draft Amendments to the Model Defamation Provisions during the consultation phase and is looking forward to working with our state’s Attorney General to implement the reforms,” Mr Harvey said.
“It’s important that defamation laws in each state and territory reflect the significant developments in digital communication that have taken place since the Modern Defamation Provisions were introduced in 2005.
“At the time they were introduced no one could have foreseen the way digital media would revolutionise the way we communicate.
“Back then, Facebook’s network had not extended beyond educational institutions and Twitter and Instagram did not even exist.
“More than 15 years later, Facebook has more than 2.6 billion active users, around 500 million tweets are sent each day and our courts are dealing with an increase in litigation over social media posts.
“It’s vital that we have defamation laws that both reflect the developments in digital and social communication and strike the appropriate balance between the right of individuals to protect their reputations and freedom of speech.”
/Public Release.