Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) If a matter is
published wholly within a particular Australian jurisdictional area, the
substantive law that is applicable in that area must be applied in this
jurisdiction to determine any cause of action for defamation based on the
publication.
(2) If there is a
multiple publication of matter in more than one Australian jurisdictional
area, the substantive law applicable in the Australian jurisdictional area
with which the harm occasioned by the publication as a whole has its closest
connection must be applied in this jurisdiction to determine each cause of
action for defamation based on the publication.
(3) In determining the
Australian jurisdictional area with which the harm occasioned by a publication
of matter has its closest connection, a court may take into account —
(a) the
place at the time of publication where the plaintiff was ordinarily resident
or, in the case of a corporation that may assert a cause of action for
defamation, the place where the corporation had its principal place of
business at that time;
(b) the
extent of publication in each relevant Australian jurisdictional area;
(c) the
extent of harm sustained by the plaintiff in each relevant Australian
jurisdictional area; and
(d) any
other matter that the court considers relevant.
(4) For the purposes
of this section, the substantive law applicable in an Australian
jurisdictional area does not include any law prescribing rules for choice of
law that differ from the rules prescribed by this section.
(5) In this section
—
Australian jurisdictional area means —
(a) the
geographical area of Australia that lies within the territorial limits of a
particular State (including its coastal waters), but not including any
territory, place or other area referred to in paragraph (c);
(b) the
geographical area of Australia that lies within the territorial limits of a
particular Territory (including its coastal waters), but not including any
territory, place or other area referred to in paragraph (c); or
(c) any
territory, place or other geographical area of Australia over which the
Commonwealth has legislative competence but over which no State or Territory
has legislative competence;
external Territory means a territory, other than
the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory or the Northern
Territory, for the government of which as a territory provision is made by a
Commonwealth Act;
geographical area of Australia includes —
(a) the
territorial sea of Australia; and
(b) the
external Territories of the Commonwealth;
Jervis Bay Territory means the territory mentioned
in the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915 of the Commonwealth;
multiple publications means publication by a
particular person of the same, or substantially the same, matter in
substantially the same form to 2 or more persons.