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Australian Rugby / RA

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I am by no way an expert, but I did think there was legal precedent for internet sites being held accountable for postings on the site.

It is probably a fair enough reminder that we need to be careful what we post in terms of legal liability.

Not everyone has Jones’ luxury of just letting their employer pick up the legal costs whenever we get deemed to go too far on an attack.


I agree. However the item I posted has been published in many places and remains published in many places. It is not an unsubstantiated allegation nor have I made any accusations of illegality.
 

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
We don't want this site shut down wamberal.

Jones has a great record as a rugby coach of yesteryear; today he is still increasing his winning radio ratings. He has done and continues to do a lot of good things of relevance to his listeners.

I agree. I thought carefully. There is plenty in the public domain.
 

TSR

Andrew Slack (58)
I agree. However the item I posted has been published in many places and remains published in many places. It is not an unsubstantiated allegation nor have I made any accusations of illegality.
True - but the initial warning you replied to wasn’t directed at you.

In any case, maybe we should all move on. I’m not sure Jones deserves the air time we are giving him.
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Apart from that, the attacks on Jones' listeners as being racist, bigoted, misogynist or too dumb to download a podcast - those sorts of sneers are way more bigoted than anything I've heard or read from Jones.
So you've not heard Jones speak then?
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
BH I'm more than happy to discuss the good and bad of anybody including Alan Jones. I would support much of what he has achieved in his career. For example, he is doing very well at the moment to tread a fine line between supporting the National Cabinet yet still call out its shortcomings.
My concern was that unsubstantiated allegations that verge on my meagre understanding of libel could harm G&GR.
I don't think it would be very hard to defend most of what has been said about AJ here. A valid defence to an action in defamation is justification. i.e. the defamatory imputations were true in substance. AJ has put out more than enough content to defend most of these claims about his character with ease.

Defences aside, i think it's relatively unlikely that GAGR would be found liable for posts made by another individual - though the law says that it's possible. The issue lies in determining whether GAGR is to be considered a 'passive facilitator' or an 'active publisher'. A forum probably isn't an active publisher unless a potentially defamatory post has been brought to the attention of the operators of the site, considered and left published.

So, it's technically possible but a Judge could just as easily determine GAGR is a passive facilitator. Fairly shaky grounds on which to commence what would probably be fairly costly proceedings, i think.

Further reading about legal liability for online intermediaries for those interested: http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/SydLawRw/2018/19.html

(not legal advice)
 

Ignoto

Peter Sullivan (51)
Apart from that, the attacks on Jones' listeners as being racist, bigoted, misogynist or too dumb to download a podcast - those sorts of sneers are way more bigoted than anything I've heard or read from Jones.

The sheer number of cases that Alan Jones settled outside of court and the ones that made it to the court room prove you wrong on that one.
 

KOB1987

John Eales (66)
I will always remembering him boasting, that a racehorse he owned that was racing on the day I was at a rugby lunch, he was quite proud the horse was not being set to win the race and was only there for a bit of a run and jockey was not trying to win race. The horse duly came around 5th, and he smugly told all at lunch see as I said!! I then realised that horse racing really is even worse than I thought and was glad I not a betting man. I still surprised he said it in public and was never picked up by papers etc!

Not defending Jones generally, but I will defend his comments here. I am a racing industry participant and like all industries it does have a rogue element, I'm not disputing that. However, sprinters aside, a lot of horses need to run in one, two or three shorter races before they get to their ideal distance. This is generally reflected in the odds and while a jockey has an obligation to give their horse every chance to win the race they also have an obligation not to flog it to death if at a given point in a race it's clearly no chance. That's why it was never picked up by the media, no one would have given a fuck.
 

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
Not defending Jones generally, but I will defend his comments here. I am a racing industry participant and like all industries it does have a rogue element,.


Does it ever. One of my favourite stories happened in the early days of Sha Tin in Hong Kong. Peter Miers rode five winners, all for the one trainer (who would be lucky to saddle a dozen winners in the average season).


He bought himself an apartment building on the Gold Coast with the proceeds (from the lucky owners, presumably, strictly against all the rules of course).
 

formerflanker

Ken Catchpole (46)
I don't think it would be very hard to defend most of what has been said about AJ here. A valid defence to an action in defamation is justification. i.e. the defamatory imputations were true in substance. AJ has put out more than enough content to defend most of these claims about his character with ease.

Defences aside, i think it's relatively unlikely that GAGR would be found liable for posts made by another individual - though the law says that it's possible. The issue lies in determining whether GAGR is to be considered a 'passive facilitator' or an 'active publisher'. A forum probably isn't an active publisher unless a potentially defamatory post has been brought to the attention of the operators of the site, considered and left published.

So, it's technically possible but a Judge could just as easily determine GAGR is a passive facilitator. Fairly shaky grounds on which to commence what would probably be fairly costly proceedings, i think.

Further reading about legal liability for online intermediaries for those interested: http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/SydLawRw/2018/19.html

(not legal advice)
Appreciate your analysis and facts.
 

Lindommer

Simon Poidevin (60)
Staff member
My deleted post re Alan Jones is in the public domain, vetted by Chris Masters' publisher all these years ago. Dunno why it was scrapped.
 
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