The protection from civil liability under s 487(2) of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) for making complaints or giving information to the Legal Services Commissioner is absolute and extends to preclude claims for aggravated damages in defamation arising from the act of making the complaint. An order recommending removal from the roll should only be made where the probability is that the practitioner is permanently unfit to practise; where a practitioner has no prior disciplinary history and shows emerging insight, suspension with counselling may be the appropriate penalty even for professional misconduct including aggressive correspondence with the regulatory authority. An employer is not vicariously liable for an employee's personal email sent from a work email address late at night about an entirely personal matter unrelated to the employee's responsibilities.
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