Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General Amanda Stoker indicated on Monday that government intervention in private defamation actions to unmask trolls could be handled through publicly funded legal services.
“There’s a range of different areas in which the Commonwealth provides legal services to Australians,whether that’s in the family law space or whether that’s in the criminal law space,providing Community Legal Centre-style assistance,” she said.
Asked whether the government intended to use a CLC or Legal Aid model to enforce the proposed laws,Senator Stoker said:“I think that’s the most useful analogue.”
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But it is unclear how this would work,including what criteria the government would use to select cases and what measures would be in place to ensure the process was not politicised. An exposure draft of the legislation will be released later this week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that the government would be looking for test cases to reinforce the laws. He said the current proposal did not involve establishing a new,publicly funded office to intervene in cases but the idea remained “under consideration”.
The federal attorney-general already has a right to intervene in cases that raise constitutional questions,such as the Commonwealth’s abortive attempt to backClive Palmer’s challenge to Western Australia’s border closure last year,or deal with some key pieces of legislation. The attorney-general can also request a court’s permission to intervene in other matters where it is in the public interest,though that power is used sparingly.