Australia wants to have a conversation about China but that can only happen if judges and lawyers do not interfere : Defamation laws must be reformed immediately, even retrospectively to ensure no judicial interference

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has made a public call for a national conversation about Australia's business with China, and in particular our over-dependence on any one country. 
The over reliance on China did not happen by accident; China has actively fostered that  dependence.

Hastie is not alone. Australians all over the country have made similar demands. 


Unfortunately journalists who investigate and report on the matter are being gagged by Australia's judges.

In the words of  journalist Louisa Lim:

In the decade I spent reporting from China, the most immediate obstacles to journalism were often physical. They took many forms: barricades blocking access to certain places; men in military buzz cuts trailing me; plainclothes thugs stationed in front of the homes of people I planned to interview; and of course, the threat of police detention. In one memorable incident, an official threw himself in front of the car I was riding in with colleagues to delay our departure, precipitating an unseemly shoving match. These physical manifestations of state power were designed to muzzle through intimidation and brute force, occasionally reinforced with threats of visa refusal.

Then I moved to Australia. To my surprise, writing about China from Melbourne proved no simpler. But there, I was hobbled by different forces, namely Australia’s oppressive and notoriously complex defamation laws.

These laws are impeding journalism on matters of vital national interest, including China’s growing and controversial influence, and they have made Australia the defamation capital of the world.

.......many of the best and most experienced Australian reporters on China are effectively muzzled from speaking out about the effect of the defamation laws because they are already involved in such lawsuits.

The problem lies not only with Australia's defamation laws but also with judges who see themselves as social justice crusaders.As the Daily Telegraph columnist Tim Blair put it:

Judges know best. They are more knowledgeable and caring than politicians. They are also more knowledgeable and caring than the voters who elect those politicians.

Defamation laws in Australia are being reformed but the need for reform is now more urgent than ever before given the loss to life and income caused by the Wuhan Virus.

There may be a tendency among some to beat the gun to any reforms, so the reforms must be made retrospective. 
END 

SEE on the Department Of Justice NSW website

Review of model defamation provisions-Ganesh Sahathevan