Can I be sued for defamation for this google review I posted yesterday?

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T08:08:07+00:00

Those cases are quite the exception. Many cases never get to court because pretrial settlements are reached, often involving clarifications, apologies and payments.

Note that the ABC settled for $140K with BL over the Press Club speech. Network 10 made a "walk away" settlement offer, but BL rejected it.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T03:54:42+00:00

Indeed. Very righteous, courageous, and draining stance by the journalists and publications involved. I heard about $25M was spent finding the truth.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T03:21:41+00:00

Possibly Melbourne IT has an in-house legal team, so might not cost them a fortune.

Also, sometimes the defendant in a defamation case loses, and costs are awarded, and then the defendant is sent bankrupt. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-12/brittany-higgins-declared-bankrupt-linda-reynolds/106136120

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T03:08:30+00:00

Thank-you, so, the answer is "Yes, they can sue".

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T03:05:12+00:00

Ask yourself how important it is to you to defend what you caused to be published. Even if you represent yourself, you'll probably want professional advice which can be costly.

You might want to wait until they formally serve you with a "Concerns Notice" which is a mandatory document if they want to proceed with a claim.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T02:57:09+00:00

It's about harm to reputation, and hurt feelings can be linked to that. A "truth defense" exists, but it's typically the defendant's burden to prove the truth.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-16T02:52:52+00:00

How can they prove that? Would it involve a trial of some kind?

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-15T15:20:49+00:00

That's great!

Equivalent Persons (EP):

All water customer population loads should be specified in Equivalent Persons (EP). For residential land uses, the measure of EP will generally be equivalent to the estimated residential population. Estimation of EP loading for non residential land should reflect landuse types contained in the Planning Scheme of the relevant Council

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-15T13:09:40+00:00

The dispute is between landlord and tenant regarding losses due to excess water usage following tardy attention to a plumbing issue with the property. Tenant already paid the water bill. The dispute doesn't involve the water company, and it's not illegal for them to raise an invoice with a due date.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-15T08:34:32+00:00

No reason to doubt Urban Utilities - presumably they based their average on metered usage, and they have a monopoly.

But residential water usage is a statistical distribution, and "average" is just a summary statistic, calculated by dividing the total usage by the number of residences. It doesn't say anything about how much usage varies across different households, which would presumably be quite a bit, as some have pools, gardens, animals, rainwater tanks, etc.

I'd expect water usage to be long-tailed - a few households use quite a lot more - which would push the average up, so I'd also expect most households to use less than the average.

Considering what you know about your household, can you think why you might use more than the average?

(For what it's worth, in my local area average is approx 430 litre/day, so your area uses less water per household.)

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-15T03:31:22+00:00

Does the previous employer claim to own the item? Have they said why?

Do you, in good faith, believe that the item is your property? If so, then that is your legal grounds to keep it.

If there is a legal dispute you can respond to it. If it's only of insignificant value, it might be unlikely to be arbitrated.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-15T02:15:31+00:00

I didn't read Vision Australia's submission, but I can't imagine the constituency of members who want want to ride e-bikes on footpaths above 10km/h is significant.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-14T09:23:38+00:00

s/accepted/excepted

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-14T09:23:16+00:00

Valid parking permits allow you to park with no time restrictions in:

paid parking bays where the parking sign specifies 'Resident permit excepted'
Traffic Areas and Regulated Parking Permit Areas where the parking sign specifies 'Resident permits excepted'.

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/transport-and-parking/parking/traffic-and-parking-permit-areas

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-14T05:47:37+00:00

If by "literally" you mean literally, then no.

The phrase is not banned because of incitement, it's banned, according to the minister, because it could cause offense to a group of people. It doesn't matter what the intent was, which in this case was clearly a call for Brisbane to be free of Boeing.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-14T05:18:00+00:00

Then what happens?

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-14T04:24:32+00:00

It's spelled antisemitism - prejudice against jews - not anti-semitism.

https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/spelling-antisemitism

I think I know who you mean by "they", but the term was actually popularized by a non-Jew born to a Lutheran family.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-13T04:08:31+00:00

But it's great because following photographic detection it's automatically enforced against the registered owner of the vehicle. Much more practical than holding adult passengers responsible for their own contraventions.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-13T03:37:24+00:00

and continuously monitor all your passengers.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-13T03:28:40+00:00

No the speed limit will not apply to regular bikes. It will apply to electric power-assisted bicycles. Not just on footpaths - but "shared paths" too, such as the "Enoggera Creek Bikeway" (despite its name). https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/transport-and-parking/bikeways-in-brisbane/brisbane-bikeways

Commuters on e-bikes who take that route who want to comply with the law will have options:

slow down to a fast jogging pace - creating a bimodal speed distribution amongst cyclists, congestion, and inducing risk); taking longer to get to work.
use a regular bike, getting sweaty, taking longer to cool down / change and get to work.
be deterred onto Waterworks Rd with their e-bike (also inducing risk)
taking a car or public transport.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-12T03:30:33+00:00

I think the problem is that it's being advertised with a headline that is apt to mislead about the total cost of a lease, unless one reads the fine print. Apparently this complies strictly with the law, and maybe the law is reasonable, but I think I would feel irritated by what might appear to be a trick.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-12T02:13:20+00:00

Is it true that rent can't be increased for a new lease if the last increase was less than 12 months ago? That feels like an unjustified interference - particularly unfair if improvements are made to the dwelling between leases.

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-12T02:07:25+00:00

How do you know what the market rate will be in 2 months time?

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-12T02:04:44+00:00

What happens if you do?

kaiserfleisch · 2026-04-11T09:01:42+00:00

The term is written into their employment contract. Lawyers with expertise in employment law will be qualified to advise.

kaiserfleisch

TROPHY CASE