Category: Truth

SA Supreme Court dismisses case brought against Today Tonight by a woman who was initially found to have acted fraudulently in relation to Centrelink payments … All the pleaded defences are upheld, including Lange qualified privilege ... more

Townsville jury finds former Townsville Bulletin court reporter was defamed by a snippet in Sharri Markson’s media gossip column … It’s not true that Malcolm Weatherup was “habitually intoxicated” and “incurred the wrath of judges” ... more

Long-running defamation action brought by a former Anglican priest (now Catholic) over sexual misconduct allegations ends in victory for the publishers … The defences of truth and contextual truth are established for five articles in a lengthy judgment redolent with graphic sexual detail ... more

Another self-represented plaintiff loses his case, this time in the QLD District Court … Judge David Reid finds the solicitor/plaintiff’s demeanour “aggressive”, “strident”, “grossly offensive and rude” ... more

Defamation action brought by the former partner of a South Australian Labor MP is dismissed … It’s true that Sandra De Poi knowingly engaged in dishonest electoral practices by wearing a bogus “Family First” T-shirt and handing out fake how-to-vote cards ... more

Re-hearing of “bullying” imputations pits former mayor of Bega Tony Allen against his old critic, local Franciscan nun, Laurel Lloyd-Jones … Truth and damages at stake ... more

Judgment for the defendant … Fairfax Media proves that carbon credit company Shift2Neutral was a fake and its founder a liar … Acting Justice Henric Nicholas upholds truth defence for all imputations ... more

Channel Nine defeats defamation and injurious falsehood claims brought over a news item which warned consumers about the dangers of baby “sleep positioners” ... Justice Christine Adamson determines the plaintiffs’ case fails the first threshold – meaning – and the rest ... more

Victory for truth and responsible journalism … Notorious East End “businessman” loses his libel action against The Sunday Times. Mr Justice Simon finds it true that David Hunt headed “an organised crime network implicated in extreme violence and fraud” ... more

Murder suspect Derick Sands loses another defamation action, this time against the SA Police … Defence of justification succeeds for press conference and press release as the plaintiff is found to have lied (again) ... more

Massive victory for the Commonwealth Bank as former employee Vivienne Dye loses all her actions – including in defamation and injurious falsehood … Reply-to-attack qualified privilege gets a rare showing ... more