Australians might be forgiven for thinking they have a protected right to say whatever they want in public, because it is all protected by free speech… Except it is not. Franklin (2004, p. 36) comments, “Despite the assumptions of a generation nurtured on TV’s The Practice and other legal dramas, Australians have no ‘right’ to free speech.� Americans specifically have the First Amendment in their Constitution, which grants them freedom of speech; this does not exist in the Australian Constitution. The Australian Constitution merely outlines the rules about who should govern what, leaving the public to interpret the specifics in court under the rule of common law.
Barrister Matt Collins (cited in Franklin 2004, p. 37) believes weblogs are a “permanent form of communication,� and “rather than picking up the phone if they have a point to make, there’s a real tendency to blow off some steam via a newsgroup.� He argues that this can be circulated around the world in the course of a day and become a permanent record of what might have been an offhand comment or a momentary emotional state.
Australia has a different set of standards and Federal law for each individual State and Territory. Franklin (2004, p. 37) suggests that future Australians who wish to begin a weblog (and have the tendency to sometimes express a little too much) should check his or her liability against defamation laws. Collins (cited in Franklin 2004, p. 38) adds to this by suggesting that what constitutes defamation can be extremely confusing, and that a comment that one regards as deeply offensive due to personal beliefs might not be viewed as defamation, because a jury wouldn’t necessarily regard these things as damaging. Clearly, it is still a very grey area.
The lighter side of blogging, and what has been particularly popular in Australia, is celebrities taking advantage of celeblogs (weblogs maintained by celebrities) to market themselves, keep in touch with friends and fans, and to record feelings about life on the road. Tatiana Grigorieva, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist is a prime example of an Australian celebrity who utilises a weblog to stay in touch with her Russian roots, and her own web projects. Tatiana has found that there has been a shift from the old tech messages of faxes and letters from fans. She comments, “we now receive more instant support via email and the Internet.� (Byrne 2004, p. 18). Tatiana’s great interest in technology instigated her to set up her own personal weblog, which receives approximately 2 million hits a day when a competition is approaching. The main attraction on Tatiana’s weblog is her diary and the fitness advice section that was specifically set up for her readers.
It is likely that more Australian-owned companies and firms will soon start to adopt blogging as a means of networking and to enable ease of efficiency. Complex documents can be compiled and edited on-line- by several interested parties- multidisciplinary even. For example, a land rights issue (an agreement drawn up between lawyers for the Parliament) could be drafted online, enabling parties to regularly make corrections throughout the process. Another example would be if a mining company intended to start a gold mine somewhere in Australia. Again, many parts of the proposal could be worked online, to ensure ease of efficiency and networking. Ultimately, this would be much more time saving for all concerned. There are many different sides to weblogs in Australia, and as technology continues to empower society, new uses for weblogs will arise and proliferate in Australia.
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Defamation Laws and the internet
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Reference List
Byrne, S. (2004). "Tatiana Grigorieva," internet.au, Issue 104, p. 18.
Franklin, C. (2004). "Watch your mouth," internet.au, Issue 104. 36.
Catherine Miller 14:02, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)
