Defamation Lawyers in Melbourne

Two clocks are running. Read this first.

If you have been defamed in Victoria, you have 12 months from publication to file. If you have just been served a concerns notice, you have 28 days to respond. Miss either deadline and good claims die for procedural reasons. The Defamation Act 2005 (Vic), as reformed in 2021, made the concerns notice a mandatory pre-court step and tightened the serious-harm test every plaintiff has to meet. Those changes were adopted almost everywhere, so defamation law in Australia now runs as one national scheme with Western Australia the notable holdout.

Whether you are the person attacked or the person accused, call MK Law on 1800 130 120 today. The first call is free.

The concerns notice decides most defamation matters before a court is ever involved. A precise one, with each imputation particularised and the harm spelt out, routinely produces a takedown, an apology or a payment inside 28 days. A vague one fails the mandatory pre-court step and stalls the whole claim. This is not the document to draft yourself.

What you actually have to prove

Since the 2021 reforms there are four elements, not three. Every plaintiff has to show all four, and our plain-English guide to what is defamation takes them one at a time with worked examples.

Publication. The material was communicated to at least one person other than you. A direct message to you alone is not enough; a group chat, an email cc or a public post is.

Identification. You were identified, by name or by features that let an ordinary reader work it out. “The dentist on Glenferrie Road with the red door” can be enough if your patients recognise it.

Defamatory imputation. The words carry a meaning that lowers your reputation in the eyes of an ordinary reasonable person. Calling someone a thief, a fraud or unsafe almost always qualifies. Where the target is a person rather than a business, most callers know this as defamation of character.

Serious harm. The publication caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to your reputation. For individuals that means lost work, broken relationships or documented distress; for businesses, serious financial loss. The threshold knocks out trivial claims early.

Know where you stand after one call

Most matters start with one screenshot: the review, the post, the email that went to the whole street. We read it on the first call and tell you whether it clears the serious-harm threshold, which imputations it carries, and how much time is left on the 12-month clock. If there is a claim, the next step is almost always a concerns notice, not a writ. By the end of the call you have a written view and a clear next step, or an honest reason we would not run it.

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How defamation gets published

Defamation now lives mostly online. We act on Facebook posts, Instagram stories, TikTok captions, X threads, Google and Trustpilot reviews, LinkedIn updates, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, mass emails and WhatsApp group chats. Traditional print, radio and television defamation still happens and the test is the same. Australia scrapped the old slander vs libel divide in 2005, so words shouted across a car park are judged on the same test as a front-page headline. Posts and reviews move on their own tempo, and social media defamation covers what to capture in the first hour before anything gets deleted.

The concerns notice (this is where most matters end)

Since 1 July 2021 you cannot file a defamation claim in Victoria without first serving a concerns notice. The notice has to identify the publication, set out each imputation it carries, and explain the harm. The other side then has 28 days to respond, usually with an “offer to make amends” under the Act that, if accepted on reasonable terms, can end the matter. If the publisher needs more detail, they can request further particulars within 14 days of receiving the notice, which extends the clock until those particulars are supplied.

A well-drafted concerns notice signed by a lawyer routinely produces one of three outcomes inside the 28-day window: the post is taken down, an apology and retraction are published, or a payment is offered. Most files settle at this stage.

If you have been served with a concerns notice, do not respond on your own. A poorly drafted reply can lock you into admissions you cannot walk back, or waste the offer-to-make-amends defence that is often your best protection against damages.

Identifying an anonymous publisher

A fake Google review, a burner X account, a pseudonymous comment under a news article. Before filing we apply for preliminary discovery under the relevant court rules, which compels the platform (Meta, Google, X, Reddit, the host) to release IP logs and account records for the suspected publisher. Where the publisher sits offshore we seek leave to serve overseas. If unmasking is not realistic we redirect to a platform takedown under community standards, which often resolves the harm faster than court.

Anonymous posts are rarely the dead end they feel like

A burner account or a fake review feels untouchable. It usually is not. We apply for preliminary discovery to force the platform to hand over the IP logs and account records behind the publisher, and seek leave to serve overseas where the trail runs offshore. Where unmasking is not realistic, a platform takedown under community standards often ends the harm faster than any court order could.

Find out who is behind it

Defences when you are the publisher

We act for plenty of clients on the receiving end of a concerns notice, including journalists, bloggers, business owners and people who simply spoke their mind online. The Defamation Act 2005 (Vic) offers real defences:

• Truth (justification). If what you said is substantially true, you win.
• Honest opinion. Genuinely held opinion on a matter of public interest, based on proper material that is stated or known.
• Qualified privilege. Communication on a subject the recipient has a legitimate interest in receiving, made reasonably and without malice.
• Statutory qualified privilege. A separate statutory defence with its own reasonableness test under the Act.
• Contextual truth. Where the substantial truth of one imputation defeats the harm of others published at the same time.
• Public interest. The 2021 reforms introduced a new defence for publications on matters of public interest where the publisher reasonably believed publication was in the public interest.

The right defence depends on what you said, why you said it, and what you can prove. Bringing the file to a lawyer early gives you the strongest hand.

What you can recover

Non-economic loss damages are capped at $520,000 from 1 July 2026 (indexed every July). Aggravated damages sit on top where the publisher acted maliciously or refused a reasonable takedown. Excluded corporations can also recover proven financial loss. You may obtain a permanent injunction stopping further publication, a court-ordered apology or correction, and a contribution to your legal costs. We aim for the outcome that actually helps you: a fast takedown, a clear retraction, and a payment that reflects the real harm.

Injurious falsehood (the claim companies use)

Larger companies cannot sue in defamation, but they can sue in injurious falsehood. The elements are different: a false statement about your goods or services, malice, and actual financial loss. We routinely plead injurious falsehood alongside defamation where one client (often the director personally) sues for reputation and the company sues for lost trade. The two run on the same facts and can be resolved together.

Acting for both plaintiffs and defendants

MK Law acts on both sides of the line. Some weeks we send three concerns notices and respond to two. That two-way view matters: we know how the other side will read your draft. Defamation rarely arrives on its own either. It usually turns up attached to an employment exit or a commercial fight already running, and our civil lawyers in Melbourne handle those alongside it.

What a defamation matter costs

The first call is free. Beyond that, the answer is driven by how far the fight goes. A concerns notice drafted by a lawyer, with each imputation particularised and the harm spelt out, is the most useful document in most defamation matters and a far smaller job than a filed proceeding, a mediation and a trial. Responding to a notice on behalf of a publisher takes similar work. What pushes a matter up the scale, stage by stage, is set out on cost to sue for defamation. We scope it with you on that first call.

Talk to a Melbourne defamation lawyer today

Whether the post went up yesterday or the concerns notice arrived in this morning’s mail, the clock is already running. Call 1800 130 120 or use the form on this page. We answer evenings and weekends for urgent defamation matters.