Message from the President

31/05/2019

In February 2019 the Defamation Working Party established by the Council of Attorneys-General and led by the NSW Department of Justice invited the NSW Bar Association to comment on the Model Defamation Provisions. The Bar Council convened a specialist committee to respond to this request. The submission of the Committee which was adopted by the NSW Bar Council was forwarded to the Law Council of Australia, along with submissions of other constituent bodies, for incorporation into the LCA response. The text of the NSW submission can be found HERE. The submission is a thorough and scholarly analysis of the relevant issues and I commend it not only to defamation law specialists but to all members.

On behalf of the New South Wales Bar Council I would like to thank the Committee for its time and effort in compiling the NSW Bar Association’s submission in the short time frame that was available. I should note that although not set out in the submission the Executive of the NSW Bar Association did take a view on a matter that the committee was not able to reach consensus on at paragraphs 42-48 by expressing a preference for the recommendations at paragraph 48.