223 The privilege exists because of the interest of the public in hearing the response of the target to public criticisms. In Loveday v Sun Newspapers Ltd (1938) 59 CLR 503 at 511, Latham CJ said:
An occasion is the subject of qualified privilege if both the plaintiff and the defendant have an interest in the subject matter to which the alleged libel relates and if the publication of the libel is made in protection of the defendant's interest … [I]t is plain that the plaintiff was interested in the administration by the Canterbury Municipal Council of the system of employing relief workers … The defendant Jay was the executive officer of the council which administered the relief system. He had an interest in defending his own reputation, as well as the reputation of his council, in relation to the administration of that system. If either Jay or the council were attacked in relation to that administration Jay was entitled to reply to the attack and the occasion would be privileged.
224 Justice Starke said at 515–16:
A person attacked has both a right and an interest in repelling or refuting the attack, and the appeal to the public gives it a corresponding interest in the reply. Occasions of this kind are privileged and communications made in pursuance of a right or duty incident to them are privileged by the occasion … The privilege is not absolute: in case a person is attacked the answer must be relevant to the attack and must not be actuated by motives of personal spite or ill will independent of the occasion on which the communication was made …
(Citations omitted)
225 Justice Dixon said at 518–19:
The letter sent by the secretary of the unemployed relief council to the Sun newspaper for publication impugned the course taken with respect to the plaintiff by those administering relief work under the authority of the municipal council. Supposing that such an attack or criticism of something done under the council's administration has already been widely published, then for the publication of any relevant matter in reply undoubtedly a privilege would exist. The town clerk, as an appropriate officer of the municipality, would be entitled, upon that supposition, to a qualified privilege for the publication of any statements in answer tending to justify or explain the course taken, or remove or mitigate the effect of the attack or criticism. If the criticism had been addressed to the public at large and the communication had not been confined to specific individuals, the privilege would cover a publication of the answer in the newspapers or in any other manner that would reach the public generally.
226 In Penton v Calwell (1945) 70 CLR 219, Mr Calwell, a Minister of the Crown, had alleged in Parliament that The Daily Telegraph had defied a wartime censorship instruction in reporting the escape of Japanese prisoners at Cowra in 1944. The editor responded in an editorial calling Mr Calwell a liar, and inviting him to sue, which he duly did.
227 The editor in his defence pleaded qualified privilege on the basis that he was responding to attacks on himself, the publisher, the managing director and newspapers generally.
