By: Georgie Austin, Zoe Burchill and Deniz Coskundag At a glance The Federal Court of Australia recently found that Senator Pauline Hanson breached s 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act for a post published on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). In 2022, Senator Mehreen Faruqi posted a tweet about the monarchy, in which Senator […]
By: Georgie Austin, Zoe Burchill and Anthea Dres At a glance On 22 October 2024, Justice Abraham granted Bruce Lehrmann the authority to appeal his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson. The respondents had sought security in the amount of $200,000 for their costs of the appeal proceeding and this application was subsequently […]
With litigation escalating across data breaches and privacy class actions, there are new questions around legal privilege when obtaining forensic reports. As part of our Trend Watch video series, Cyber, Privacy + Technology partner Nicole Gabryk and Commercial Litigation special counsel Gavin Davies discuss privilege claims arising from the Optus and Medibank data breaches in 2021-2022, […]
By: Richard Leder, Georgie Austin, Blake Pappas and Zoe Burchill At a glance Bruce Lehrmann has been allowed to appeal his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson. The Federal Court dismissed the requirement for him to pay $200,000 in security costs before the appeal. The initial ruling by Justice Michael Lee found that […]
The 2021–2022 Optus and Medibank cyber incidents have sparked an uptick of litigation in the data breach and privacy class action space, raising important questions for the trajectory of similar matters going forward. In the second instalment of our Trend Watch video series, Cyber, Privacy + Technology partner Nicole Gabryk and Commercial Litigation special counsel […]
By: Richard Leder, Georgie Austin, Blake Pappas and Jessica Bennett At a glance Across Australia, various state and territory laws govern the recording of private conversations and the communication and publishing of such recordings. Before publishing or sharing any recordings, it is crucial to be aware that doing so may not only work against your […]
By: Richard Leder, Jacquie Goodwin, Blake Pappas and George Kift Gobbo v State of Victoria [2024] VSC 603 At a glance On 23 September 2024, the State of Victoria successfully removed the jury in Nicola Gobbo’s civil trial. In his written reasons delivered on 26 September 2024, Keogh J confirmed that notoriety and publicity are […]
By: Richard Leder, Georgie Austin, Blake Pappas, Zoe Burchill and Isabella Antonino At a glance The Stage 2 Defamation Reforms, building on Australia’s national Model Defamation Provisions, focus on addressing defamation in digital contexts and protecting those reporting criminal conduct. Key aspects of the Stage 2 reforms include: Part A amendments: Targeting defamatory content published […]
The Commonwealth Attorney-General has recently introduced the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024, aimed at amending the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and repealing the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1998. The proposed changes signal Australia’s strengthened commitment to combatting money laundering and terrorism financing, targeting criminal activity more effectively. For more […]
By: Richard Leder, Simone Tagliaferro, and Rhyse Collins Comensoli v WQA (a pseudonym) [2024] VSCA 104 At a glance The Victorian Court of Appeal has ruled that social security payments received by a plaintiff are not to be taken into account in quantifying economic loss, even when those payments are not repayable to the Commonwealth. […]
