Defamation Lawyers Brisbane

How defamation law works in Queensland

Defamation in Queensland is governed by the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld), together with the common law (judge-made law) that the Act leaves in place. In plain terms, you may have a claim if someone has communicated something about you to at least one other person, it identifies you, and it damages your reputation. The law calls the communication a "publication" and calls each damaging meaning it conveys an "imputation". A Facebook post, a Google review, a group email, a community newsletter and a comment at a meeting can all be publications.

Since 1 July 2021, Queensland has also required a "serious harm element". Under section 10A, you must prove the publication has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to your reputation. A judge decides this, not a jury, and can decide it early, before a trial. This means hurt feelings or a rude comment seen by a handful of people will often not be enough.

Not everyone can sue. A company generally cannot sue for defamation unless it is an "excluded corporation": broadly, one with fewer than 10 employees that is not an associated entity of another corporation, or a not-for-profit, and not a public body. Even then, it must show serious financial loss. The individuals behind a business can still sue if the publication identifies them personally. No claim can be brought over material published about a person who has died, or against a publisher who has since died.

If you are the one accused, the Act sets out defences. They include justification (the imputations are substantially true), honest opinion, publication on a matter of public interest, and privilege.

The concerns notice: the step you cannot skip in Queensland

You cannot simply file a defamation claim in a Queensland court. Section 12B of the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld) says proceedings cannot be commenced unless you have first given the publisher a concerns notice, the notice set out the imputations you intend to rely on, and the period for the publisher to respond has passed.

A concerns notice is a written document that says where the material can be found (for example, a web address), explains the defamatory imputations you say it carries, and describes the serious harm to your reputation. If the notice is too vague, the publisher can ask for further particulars, and you have 14 days to provide them or the notice may be treated as never given.

The publisher then usually has 28 days to make an "offer to make amends", a formal written offer that must generally include a reasonable correction or clarification and payment of your reasonable expenses, and may include an apology or compensation. For online material, Queensland's 2025 amendments allow an offer to remove or block access to the material instead of, or as well as, a correction. An apology is not an admission of liability under the Act. If a reasonable offer is made promptly and you refuse it, that refusal can become a defence to your claim, so the wording of the notice and the response to any offer both matter a great deal.

If you have received a concerns notice, the same clock is running against you. Note the date you received it and get advice before replying or deleting anything.

Google reviews, Facebook groups and Queensland's 2025 online rules

Many Brisbane disputes start online: a one-star review of a Fortitude Valley venue or a New Farm clinic, a post in a suburb community group, or a thread about a local tradesperson. Queensland changed the rules for this kind of publication when the Defamation and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 commenced on 26 December 2025.

Under those changes, businesses that merely provide caching, conduit or storage services, and search engine providers in respect of automated search results, are generally exempt from liability. Other "digital intermediaries", which can include platforms and people who administer pages or forums where others post, have a new defence under section 31A. Broadly, they must have an accessible complaints mechanism and, if given a written complaint, take reasonable steps to prevent access to the material within 7 days.

In practice this means a written complaint to the platform or page administrator is often worth considering alongside a concerns notice to the person who wrote the post. If the author is anonymous, a court can be asked for preliminary discovery, an order requiring someone to hand over identifying information, though the court must weigh privacy and safety first. Courts can also order a digital intermediary that is not a party to the case to take down or block material after judgment or an injunction.

The 2025 changes also give absolute privilege, a complete defence, to matter published to a police official acting in an official capacity. This protects the report to police itself, not the same allegation repeated elsewhere. It applies to publications made after the change commenced.

The digital intermediary changes apply to publications after commencement. Older posts may be governed by the earlier law.

Which Brisbane court hears a defamation claim?

There is no tribunal for defamation in Queensland. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal's minor civil dispute list covers matters such as tenancy, minor debt, consumer and dividing fence disputes, not reputational claims. Defamation claims go to the courts, and the court depends on the amount claimed.

The Magistrates Court can hear personal actions up to $150,000. The Brisbane Magistrates Court is at 363 George Street, Brisbane. The District Court of Queensland hears claims up to $750,000, and the Supreme Court of Queensland hears claims above that. In Brisbane both sit in the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, 415 George Street, Brisbane.

In the District Court or Supreme Court, either side may elect to have a defamation case tried by a jury unless the court orders otherwise. That election is not available in the Magistrates Court. Where there is a jury, it decides whether defamatory matter was published and whether a defence is made out, while the judge decides serious harm and the amount of damages. The Act caps damages for non-economic loss (harm to reputation and hurt) at an indexed maximum, reserved for a most serious case, with aggravated damages assessed separately. Queensland courts also offer mediation and case appraisal.

The one-year clock, and why online posts do not restart it

Under section 10AA of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld), a defamation action must be started within 1 year of the date of publication. For online material, that date is the day it was first uploaded or sent, and under section 10AB a later republication of substantially the same material by the same publisher, or an associate of that publisher, is treated as dating from the first publication, unless the manner of the later publication is materially different (for example, far more prominent or far wider).

If you give a concerns notice within the last 56 days of that year, the period is extended so there is time for the process to run. Separately, a court may extend the period to up to 3 years under section 32A if you satisfy it that it is just and reasonable to allow the action to proceed. That is discretionary, so it is unsafe to rely on it.

How Queensland compares with other states

Australian defamation law is based on model provisions that each state and territory enacts separately, so the core rules are similar but the start dates of amendments differ. Queensland began its first round of reforms (serious harm, mandatory concerns notices) on 1 July 2021 and its digital intermediary reforms on 26 December 2025. Not every jurisdiction has adopted every reform, or on the same dates.

If a post was read in several states, section 11 of the Queensland Act directs the court to apply the law of the place with the closest connection to the harm, looking at factors such as where you ordinarily live. For someone living and working in Brisbane, that will often, but not always, be Queensland.