26—Defence for publication of public documents
(1) It is a defence to
the publication of defamatory matter if the defendant proves that the matter
was contained in—
(a) a
public document or a fair copy of a public document; or
(b) a
fair summary of, or a fair extract from, a public document.
(2) For the purposes
of subsection (1), if a report or other document under the law of a
country would be a public document except for non-compliance with a provision
of that law about—
(a) the
formal requirements for the content or layout of the report or document; or
(b) the
time within which the report or document is prepared, or presented, submitted,
tabled or laid to or before a person or body,
the report or document is a public document despite that non-compliance.
(3) A defence
established under subsection (1) is defeated if, and only if, the
plaintiff proves that the defamatory matter was not published honestly for the
information of the public or the advancement of education.
(4) In this
section—
"public document" means—
(a) any
report or paper published by a parliamentary body, or a record of votes,
debates or other proceedings relating to a parliamentary body published by or
under the authority of the body or any law; or
(b) any
judgment, order or other determination of a court or arbitral tribunal of any
country in civil proceedings and including—
(i)
any record of the court or tribunal relating to the
judgment, order or determination or to its enforcement or satisfaction; and
(ii)
any report of the court or tribunal about its judgment,
order or determination and the reasons for its judgment, order or
determination; or
(c) any
report or other document that under the law of any country—
(i)
is authorised to be published; or
(ii)
is required to be presented or submitted to, tabled in,
or laid before, a parliamentary body; or
(d) any
document issued by the government (including a local government) of a country,
or by an officer, employee or agency of the government, for the information of
the public; or
(e) any
record or other document open to inspection by the public that is kept—
(i)
by an Australian jurisdiction; or
(ii)
by a statutory authority of an Australian jurisdiction;
or
(iii)
by an Australian court; or
(iv)
under legislation of an Australian jurisdiction; or
(f) any
other document issued, kept or published by a person, body or organisation of
another Australian jurisdiction that is treated in that jurisdiction as a
public document under a provision of a law of the jurisdiction corresponding
to this section.