Principal Lawyer Justin Quill comments on possible national review to balance defamation laws

Source: The Australian

Principal Lawyer Justin Quill commented in The Australian regarding a possible review of defamation laws. A parliamentary committee has urged this review should look to to ensure the laws do not hinder public-interest journalism, as it is argued that defamation laws  “played a significant part in curtailing journalists’ efforts to pursue public interest stories”.

Justin said news organisations faced huge costs as a result of defamation claims, even if they were successfully defended.

“It is much harder to defend a defamation claim than to bring one,” he said.

“A media organisation can spend millions of dollars defending a single action. And quite often, these costs are not recoverable.”

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