Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current Acts(1) A defence under this Division is additional to any other defence or exclusion of liability available to the defendant apart from this Act (including under the general law) and does not of itself vitiate, limit or abrogate any other defence or exclusion of liability.
Note
A number of Acts contain provisions providing protection from, or a defence to, defamation actions in respect of certain publications or other documents or proceedings. For example, section 19 of the Constitution Act 1975 confers certain privileges and immunities on members of Parliament. That Act also protects the authorised publication of, or the publication of a copy of, a report, paper, votes or proceedings of the Council or the Assembly or of a parliamentary committee or the authorised broadcasting of proceedings of such a body (see sections 73, 74 and 74AA). Section 24(1) of this Act continues the operation of all such provisions in addition to any defence that may be available under this Act, for example, a defence of absolute privilege under section 27.
(2) If a defence under this Division to the publication of defamatory matter may be defeated by proof that the publication was actuated by malice, the general law applies in defamation proceedings in which the defence is raised to determine whether a particular publication of matter was actuated by malice.