Defamation Act 2005

This Act applies to the publication of defamatory matter after the commencement of this Act, unless subsection (2) provides otherwise.

The provisions of this Act (other than this section) do not apply to a cause of action for the publication of defamatory matter that accrues after the commencement of this Act (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 this Act (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 law of defamation continues to apply to the following causes of action in the same way as it would have applied to those causes of action had this Act not been enacted:any cause of action that accrued before the commencement of this Act; any post-commencement action to which the other provisions of this Act do not apply because of subsection (2).

In this section – existing law of defamation means the law (including all relevant statutory provisions and principles and rules of the general law) that applied in this jurisdiction to the determination of civil liability for the publication of defamatory matter immediately before the commencement of this Act.