Murdoch v Private Media Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 1275

Federal Court of Australia

Murdoch v Private Media Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 1275 File number: NSD 673 of 2022

Judgment of: WIGNEY J

Date of judgment: 21 October 2022

Date of publication of reasons: 28 October 2022

Catchwords: DEFAMATION – nature and scope of public interest defence in s 29A of Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) – analysis of the statutory elements in s 29A defence – whether the "matter" concerns an issue of "public interest" for the purposes of s 29A(1)(a) – consideration of comparable defence in s 4 of Defamation Act 2013 (UK) and United Kingdom authorities – qualified privilege defence in Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520 – sufficiency of mitigation of damages pleading – relevance of malice to reasonable belief element in s 29A(1)(b) – etymology of the word "furphy" – whether that issue was a "furphy" PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application to strike out impugned paragraphs of defence – whether impugned paragraphs are evasive or ambiguous, or likely to cause prejudice, embarrassment or delay, or fail to disclose a reasonable defence – held that impugned paragraphs disclose reasonable defence – application by respondents to strike out allegation of malice in applicant's reply – both interlocutory applications dismissed

Legislation: Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 144 Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) r 16.21 Defamation Act 1974 (NSW) (repealed) Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) ss 8, 10A, 15, 18, 29A, 29A(1)(a), 29A(1)(b), 29A(2), 29A(3), 29A(3)(a), 30, 30(4), 31 Defamation Amendment Act 2020 (NSW) sch 1 cl 27 Defamation Amendment Bill 2020 (NSW), Explanatory Note Defamation Act 2013 (UK) ss 4, 4(1), 4(6)