Keramianakis & Anor v Regional Publishers Pty Ltd

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by the appellants, Mr. and Mrs. Keramianakis, against a decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia. The dispute concerned the publication of an article by the respondent, Regional Publishers Pty Ltd, which the appellants alleged contained defamatory material. The appellants sought damages for the harm to their reputation caused by the publication.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the defence of qualified privilege was available to the respondent in respect of the defamatory statements published in the article. Specifically, the court had to determine if the occasion of publication was one which attracted qualified privilege, and if so, whether the respondent had acted with malice, thereby defeating the defence.

The High Court, in a joint judgment, held that the occasion of publication was not one that attracted qualified privilege. Their Honours reasoned that while there might be a public interest in reporting on matters of local government, the specific content and manner of publication of the article went beyond what was reasonably required to inform the public. The court found that the article contained gratuitous and irrelevant material that was not germane to the public interest in the conduct of local government affairs. Consequently, the defence of qualified privilege was not established.

The High Court allowed the appeal, set aside the orders of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia, and remitted the matter to the Supreme Court for determination of the remaining issues, including the assessment of damages.