Hall v Aldridge [No 2]

[2026] WASC 3

Supreme Court of Western Australia

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Defamation
2. › Publication
3. › Social media publications
4. › Facebook posts
5. › Approach to imputations of social media posts
6. › Whether ordinary reasonable reader of Facebook would understand posts as statements of fact or expressions of opinion
1. Defamation
2. › Defences
3. › Justification
4. › Substantial truth
5. › Whether publications asserting breach of Local Government Act and Code of Conduct were substantially true
6. › Construction of s 2.8 of Local Government Act 1995 (WA)
7. › Whether endorsement of candidates by mayor using mayoral title constituted improper use of office
1. Defamation
2. › Defences
3. › Honest opinion
4. › Whether publications were expressions of opinion or statements of fact
5. › Proper material
6. › Whether opinion based on proper material
7. › Defamation Act 2005 (WA), s 31
1. Defamation
2. › Defences
3. › Qualified privilege
4. › Common law qualified privilege
5. › Reciprocity of interest
6. › Whether Facebook groups constituted discrete groups with common interest
7. › Statutory qualified privilege
8. › Reasonableness of conduct
9. › Lange privilege
10. › Governmental and political communication
11. › Whether conduct was reasonable
12. › Defamation Act 2005 (WA), s 30

Quick Take

A mayor's endorsement of candidates for local government elections using the mayoral title on personal social media pages does not constitute a breach of s 2.8 of the Local Government Act 1995 (WA) or the Code of Conduct, and assertions to the contrary are not substantially true for the purposes of a defence of justification in defamation proceedings.