2GB to return to court over defamation case: judgment in Harbour Radio Pty Limited v Trad [2012] HCA 44

The High Court held by majority last week that radio station 2GB (Harbour Radio Pty Limited) established the defence of qualified privilege at common law with respect to a number of imputations defamatory of muslim community identity Keysar Trad. The Court granted Mr. Trad special leave to cross-appeal on certain grounds, but dismissed other parts of the cross-appeal. 

  The decision is the latest development in a series of ongoing legal battles between Mr. Trad and 2GB. The comments in question were made by broadcaster Jason Morrison, who described Mr. Trad as a "disgraceful" and "dangerous individual." Mr. Trad commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales alleging that the broadcast conveyed imputations which were defamatory. Mr Trad was  successful before the primary judge but the decision was partially reversed by the Court of Appeal. 2GB had defended their broadcast, relying on the substantial truth and contextual truth of the statements made, on the defence of fair comment on a matter of public interest, and also argued qualified privilege at common law. The issues before the High Court included whether or not the defence of qualified privilege was  available and if so how the defence then applied with respect to each imputation.   By majority, the High Court held that qualified privilege applied to a response to an attack where it was commensurate with the attack and when it was made bona fide for the purpose of vindicating one's reputation, and as such, the defence applied to six of the eight imputations relied on by Mr. Trad. The majority refused to grant leave for Mr. Trad to file a notice of crossappeal which contended that the defence of qualified privilege must fail because of malice.   The Court remitted four imputations to the Court of Appeal for consideration of the substantial truth defence, and a further two imputations for consideration of the contextual truth defence.   The result offers some limited success to both sides, and as such, no order was made as to the costs of the appeal or cross-appeal.   To assist readers of our Blog Topics full text of selected decisions are available for download for a short period of time. You can view this decision in full here.   The Caselink feature of our LawOne Service has over 70, 000 links to judgments relating to legislative provisions, making it an essential research tool for legal professionals.