(1)  Subject to section 20BA , section 20A applies to the publication of defamatory matter after the commencement of that section, unless subsection (2) provides otherwise.

(2)  The provisions of section 20A do not apply to a cause of action for the publication of defamatory matter that accrues after the commencement of that section (the " post-commencement action " ) if –

(a) the post-commencement action is one of 2 or more causes of action in proceedings commenced by a plaintiff; and

(b) each cause of action in the proceedings accrues because of the publication of the same, or substantially the same, matter on separate occasions (whether by the same defendant or another defendant); and

(c) one or more of the other causes of action in the proceedings accrued before the commencement of section 20A (a " pre-commencement action " ); and

(d) the post-commencement action accrued no later than 12 months after the date on which the earliest pre-commencement action in the proceedings accrued.

(3)  The existing limitation law continues to apply to the following causes of action in the same way as it would have applied to those causes of action had section 20A not been enacted:

(a) any cause of action that accrued before the commencement of section 20A ;

(b) any post-commencement action to which section 20A does not apply because of subsection (2) .

(4)  In this section –

existing limitation law means the provisions of Tasmanian law that applied in relation to the limitation period for defamation actions immediately before the commencement of section 20A .