A defamation cause of action is a single indivisible cause of action for personal injury or wrong done to the bankrupt within s 60(2)(g)(i) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth), and is not bifurcated by bankruptcy so that some heads of damage vest in the trustee. Section 7 of the Wrongs Act 1936 (SA) protects only media outlets publishing fair and accurate reports, not the original speaker or source. The defence of qualified privilege for police media communications during criminal investigations requires that the defamatory imputations be sufficiently connected to the legitimate purpose of the occasion; informing the public of the grounds for suspecting a named individual is gratuitous and falls outside the privileged occasion. Section 48 of the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Act 1998 (SA) prohibits only publication of reports of proceedings under the Act, not any information tending to identify a suspect independently of such a report.
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