Bellino v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [1996] HCA 47

High Court of Australia Brennan CJ Dawson, Gaudron, McHugh and Gummow JJ Bellino v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [1996] HCA 47

ORDER

1. Appeal allowed.

2. Set aside the order of the Queensland Court of Appeal dismissing the appeal.

3. In lieu of the said order of the Queensland Court of Appeal, order:

(a) that the appeal to that Court be allowed;

(b) that the matter be remitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland for a new trial.

4. The respondent pay the costs of the appellant in the Queensland Court of Appeal and in this Court.

Cur adv vult

The following written judgments were delivered:—

28 March 1996 Brennan CJ.

The respondent (the ABC) telecast in its national "Four Corners" series a programme entitled "The Moonlight State" on 11 and 17 May 1987. The programme purported to expose corruption in the administration of the Queensland Police Force whereby protection was given, with the concurrence or connivance of State political figures, to persons controlling illegal drug trafficking, illegal gambling and prostitution. After referring to the position in Brisbane, in which Geraldo and Antonio Bellino, the brothers of the appellant Vincenzo Bellino, were named as being involved in these illegal activities, the programme contained passages relating to Vincenzo Bellino's activities in North Queensland. The more significant passages of the transcript taken of the programme are set out in the judgment of Dawson, McHugh and Gummow JJ and I need not repeat them.

The appellant, claiming that he was unlawfully defamed in the programme, sued the ABC for damages for defamation in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The ABC pleaded the excuse provided for by s 377(8) of the Criminal Code Q which reads:

It is a lawful excuse for the publication of defamatory matter —

(8) If the publication is made in good faith in the course of, or for the purposes of, the discussion of some subject of public interest, the public discussion of which is for the public benefit, and if, so far as the defamatory matter consists of comment, the comment is fair.