Limitation Act 1969

The new defamation provisions apply to the publication of defamatory matter after the commencement of those provisions, unless subclause (2) provides otherwise.

The new defamation provisions do not apply to a cause of action for the publication of defamatory matter that accrues after the commencement of those provisions (the post-commencement action) if—

the post-commencement action is one of 2 or more causes of action in proceedings commenced by a plaintiff, and

each cause of action in the proceedings accrues because of the publication of the same, or substantially the same, matter on separate occasions (whether by the same defendant or another defendant), and

one or more of the other causes of action in the proceedings accrued before the commencement of the new defamation provisions (a pre-commencement action), and

the post-commencement action accrued no later than 12 months after the date on which the earliest pre-commencement action in the proceedings accrued.

The existing limitation law continues to apply to the following causes of action in the same way as it would have applied to those causes of action had the new defamation provisions not been enacted—

any cause of action that accrued before the new defamation provisions,

any post-commencement action to which the new defamation provisions do not apply because of subclause (2).

In this clause, the existing limitation law means the provisions of this Act that applied in relation to the limitation period for defamation actions immediately before the commencement of the new defamation provisions.