New Zealand Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND MEETINGS ACT 1987 - SECT 53

53 Oral statements at local authority meetings privileged

1 Any oral statement made at any meeting of a local authority in accordance with the rules that have been adopted by that local authority for the guidance and order of its proceedings shall be privileged, unless, in any proceedings for defamation in respect of the statement, the plaintiff proves that, in making the statement, the defendant was predominantly motivated by ill will towards the plaintiff, or otherwise took improper advantage of the occasion of publication.

2 The privilege conferred by subsection (1) is in addition to and not in substitution for or derogation of any other privilege, whether absolute or qualified, that applies, by virtue of any other enactment or rule of law, to the proceedings of any local authority.

History: Section 53(1): amended, on 1 February 1993, by section 56(1) of the Defamation Act 1992 (1992 No 105).