DEFAMATION ACT 2005 - SECT 15
Content of offer to make amends
DEFAMATION ACT 2005 - SECT 15
Content of offer to make amends
15 Content of offer to make amends
(1) An offer to make amends--
(a) must be in writing, and
(b) must be readily
identifiable as an offer to make amends under this Division, and
(b1) must
provide for the offer to be open for acceptance for at least 28 days
commencing on the day the offer is made, and
(c) if the offer is limited to
any particular defamatory imputations--must state that the offer is so limited
and particularise the imputations to which the offer is limited, and
(d) must
include an offer to publish, or join in publishing, a reasonable correction
of, or a clarification of or additional information about, the matter in
question or, if the offer is limited to any particular defamatory imputations,
the imputations to which the offer is limited, and
(e) if material containing
the matter has been given to someone else by the publisher or with the
publisher's knowledge--must include an offer to take, or join in taking,
reasonable steps to tell the other person that the matter is or may be
defamatory of the aggrieved person, and
(f) must include an offer to pay the
expenses reasonably incurred by the aggrieved person before the offer was made
and the expenses reasonably incurred by the aggrieved person in considering
the offer.
(1A) In addition to the matters referred to in subsection (1), an
offer to make amends may include any other kind of offer, or particulars of
any other action taken by the publisher, to redress the harm sustained by the
aggrieved person because of the matter in question, including (but not limited
to)--
(a) an offer to publish, or join in publishing, an apology in relation
to the matter in question or, if the offer is limited to any particular
defamatory imputations, the imputations to which the offer is limited, or
(b)
if the matter has been published on a website or any other electronically
accessible location--an offer to remove the matter from the website or
location, or
(c) an offer to pay compensation for any economic or
non-economic loss of the aggrieved person, or
(d) the particulars of any
correction or apology made, or action taken, before the date of the offer.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1A)(c), an offer to pay compensation may
comprise or include any one or more of the following--
(a) an offer to pay a
stated amount,
(b) an offer to pay an amount to be agreed between the
publisher and the aggrieved person,
(c) an offer to pay an amount determined
by an arbitrator appointed, or agreed on, by the publisher and the aggrieved
person,
(d) an offer to pay an amount determined by a court.
(3) If an offer
to make amends is accepted, a court may, on the application of the aggrieved
person or publisher, determine--
(a) if the offer provides for a court to
determine the amount of compensation payable under the offer--the amount of
compensation to be paid under the offer, and
(b) any other question that
arises about what must be done to carry out the terms of the offer.
(4) The
powers conferred on a court by subsection (3) are exercisable--
(a) if the
aggrieved person has brought proceedings against the publisher in any court
for defamation in relation to the matter in question, by that court in those
proceedings, and
(b) except as provided in paragraph (a), by the Supreme
Court.