A defendant pleading fair comment in Victoria must identify the substance of the alleged comment with sufficient precision to enable the plaintiff to know the case to be met, though not the particular words said to constitute comment. A fair comment defence is untenable if the comment pertains to a separate and distinct defamatory meaning unrelated to the plaintiff's pleaded imputations. For mass media defendants, qualified privilege requires pleading one of the recognised categories of exceptional circumstances — general public interest in the subject matter is insufficient. The three recognised categories are: (1) public response to public attack; (2) publication of statements made by a third person pursuant to that person's duty or interest to inform the public; and (3) publication of information concerning government or political matters (Lange privilege).
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 15 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 15 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.