Traditional common law qualified privilege will not protect defamatory statements broadcast to the public at large during an election campaign unless the defendant pleads and proves exceptional circumstances justifying the breadth of publication, such as that the audience was predominantly electors and the broadcast was the only practicable means of communication. The question whether an occasion is one of qualified privilege is a question of law for the judge under s 22 of the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld), with the jury's role limited to determining disputed questions of fact.
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