Slapping on the Writs: Defamation, Developers and Community Activism
By Brian Walters
UNSW Press, 2003
96 pages, $16.95
REVIEW BY DALE MILLS
Melbourne barrister Brian Walters has written a small but important book about the way that Australia's defamation laws can be used to stifle political protest. By bringing legal proceedings, small groups can be intimidated into giving up rather than pursuing their campaigns. Slapping on the Writs examines eight such cases that have occurred in Australia.
One case involved Barwon Water, a public authority in Victoria responsible for providing water and sewage services to 250,000 people in and around Geelong. Barwon Water wanted to clear a local woodland to make way for a new sewage farm.
The plan was opposed by local residents, who set up the Bannockburn Yellow Gum Action Group. To spread the word, the group produced a car sticker stating, "Barwon Water — Frankly Foul". This was a reference to the poor record that Barwon Water has dealing with sewage, as well as a pun on the name of Barwon Water's chief, Frank De Stafano.
Barwon Water said that the car stickers were defamatory and the writs started flying. As Barwon Water was a public authority, De Stefano didn't have to put up his own money to sue for defamation. But as the Bannockburn Yellow Gum Action Group was a local community group, its members would be responsible for its legal costs. If the matter went to court, its members could have lost their homes.
The action group eventually withdrew the stickers, apologised, stopped campaigning and had to pay $10,000 in expenses. The woodland was cleared of trees.
The main message of Slapping on the Writs is that legal fees can endanger small groups' existence, even if a defamation case doesn't get to court. And if it does, and a pressure group is cleared of any wrongdoing, the legal costs and fees can still cripple campaigners. In this way, free speech and political activism are stifled by threats to sue campaign groups and activists.
As Australia has no bill of rights or an explicit legal guarantee of free speech, there is little to protect activists. Walters argues that legal reform is necessary to bring Australian law in step with free speech guarantees that exist in the United States. That way, small groups like the Bannockburn Yellow Gum Action Group could have campaigned on a matter of public concern without the legal system being used against them.
From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
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