A letter of complaint made by a medical practitioner to the NSW Medical Board is not published on an occasion of absolute privilege under Schedule 1, cl 15(1)(a) of the Defamation Act 2005 (NSW). The statutory absolute privilege protects only publications made for the purpose of the assessment or referral of a complaint once made, not the making of the complaint itself. The making of a complaint to the Board is protected only by the qualified protection afforded by s 47 of the Medical Practice Act 1992 (NSW) and s 96 of the Health Care Complaints Act 1993 (NSW), which require good faith. Similarly, a complaint to the Board does not constitute an originating process in the proceedings of the Medical Tribunal under s 27(2)(b)(i) because the Tribunal's jurisdiction is only enlivened upon referral by the Board.
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