QUESTION 2 Maddie is an investigative journalist based in Brisbane and the administrator of her own...

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QUESTION 2 Maddie is an investigative journalist based in Brisbane and the administrator of her own Facebook page, 'Veritas'. On 1st November 2021, she received financial information from a confidential source, Alec, purporting to show that a billionaire Australian media Tycoon, Tike Madoch, has been routinely engaging in (legal) tax-avoidance strategies that have enabled him and his international media organisation 'OzNews Inc' to avoid paying a single cent of tax in Australia. Tike has often boasted to his friends and close associates that he is a 'good Australian taxpayer' and that he is always 'doing his financial bit for the community'. There are mixed views about tax avoidance in Australia, with most businesses and high-income earners considering the practice legitimate and within the bounds of the law, but some ordinary Australians considering it morally dubious. Maddie posts the information on the Veritas site, without making any alteration to it. She simply comments: 'Tax avoidance is still rife in our nation - where did Australia's sense of community responsibility go? An anonymous third party then posts a hyperlink in the comments box below the story to a defamatory YouTube video, which falsely implicates Tike in a bank robbery that took place in Victoria in the 1990s. Tike is outraged. He uses his political influence to persuade a senior officer of the Queensland Police Service, Nick, to visit Maddie's home and seize her personal computer without a valid warrant. Although Nick has since returned the computer, this was not before he had downloaded the contents of its hard drive onto a USB stick. He intends to pass this information on to Tike so that Tike can in turn use it to identify Alec as the source of the story and take his revenge. Advise Tike and OzNews Inc as to any remedies they may have for defamation. Advise Maddie whether she has any cause of action against Nick which might enable her to prevent Tike discovering Alec's identity as her source. (50 marks) QUESTION 2 Maddie is an investigative journalist based in Brisbane and the administrator of her own Facebook page, 'Veritas'. On 1st November 2021, she received financial information from a confidential source, Alec, purporting to show that a billionaire Australian media Tycoon, Tike Madoch, has been routinely engaging in (legal) tax-avoidance strategies that have enabled him and his international media organisation 'OzNews Inc' to avoid paying a single cent of tax in Australia. Tike has often boasted to his friends and close associates that he is a 'good Australian taxpayer' and that he is always 'doing his financial bit for the community'. There are mixed views about tax avoidance in Australia, with most businesses and high-income earners considering the practice legitimate and within the bounds of the law, but some ordinary Australians considering it morally dubious. Maddie posts the information on the Veritas site, without making any alteration to it. She simply comments: 'Tax avoidance is still rife in our nation - where did Australia's sense of community responsibility go? An anonymous third party then posts a hyperlink in the comments box below the story to a defamatory YouTube video, which falsely implicates Tike in a bank robbery that took place in Victoria in the 1990s. Tike is outraged. He uses his political influence to persuade a senior officer of the Queensland Police Service, Nick, to visit Maddie's home and seize her personal computer without a valid warrant. Although Nick has since returned the computer, this was not before he had downloaded the contents of its hard drive onto a USB stick. He intends to pass this information on to Tike so that Tike can in turn use it to identify Alec as the source of the story and take his revenge. Advise Tike and OzNews Inc as to any remedies they may have for defamation. Advise Maddie whether she has any cause of action against Nick which might enable her to prevent Tike discovering Alec's identity as her source. (50 marks)

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Advising Tike and OzNews Inc on Remedies for Defamation Tike and OzNews Inc may have a potential defamation claim against the anonymous third party wh... View the full answer