Defamation Act 1992

Defences - Qualified privilege

19: Rebuttal of qualified privilege

You could also call this:

"Saying something mean about someone might not be okay, even if you have a good reason"

You can say something about someone, but you might get in trouble if it's not true. If you say something and the person you're talking about sues you, you can use a defence called qualified privilege. This defence might not work if you said it because you don't like the person. You can still use the defence even if you were a bit mean when you said it. But if you said it just to be nasty, the defence won't work. The court will decide if you were being nasty or not.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM281231.

This page was last updated on 2 December 2025 — View changes

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18: Restrictions on qualified privilege in relation to Part 2 of Schedule 1, or

"Rules About Protecting Yourself When Publishing Reports"

20: Joint publishers, or

"When you and someone else publish something that hurts someone's reputation together"

Part 2Defences
Qualified privilege

19Rebuttal of qualified privilege

In any proceedings for defamation, a defence of qualified privilege shall fail if the plaintiff proves that, in publishing the matter that is the subject of the proceedings, the defendant was predominantly motivated by ill will towards the plaintiff, or otherwise took improper advantage of the occasion of publication.
Subject to subsection (1), a defence of qualified privilege shall not fail because the defendant was motivated by malice.

Compare

1954 No 46 s 17(2)