Concerns Notices in Australian Defamation Law: What the Rules Require

A concerns notice is a written notice an aggrieved person must give a publisher before suing for defamation in most of Australia, and it is a mandatory precondition to commencing proceedings everywhere except Western Australia.

This article addresses the concerns notice regime as it applies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and, since 11 August 2025, the Northern Territory. It does not apply in Western Australia, covered separately below.

What Must a Concerns Notice Contain?

A concerns notice is a formal written notice given by the aggrieved person to the proposed defendant before defamation proceedings can start. To be valid, it must be in writing, specify where the allegedly defamatory matter can be accessed, identify the specific imputations the aggrieved person considers arise from the publication, and identify the harm they consider the publication has caused or is likely to cause. Where the aggrieved person is a corporation, the notice must instead identify the serious financial loss claimed, consistent with the corporate version of the serious harm test covered on the serious harm threshold page. A defective or incomplete concerns notice can be met with a request for further particulars, which restarts a shorter clock, covered below.

Suing Without a Concerns Notice First Is Not an Option

New South Wales' provision states the precondition directly, and its wording is representative of every adopting jurisdiction:

"An aggrieved person cannot commence defamation proceedings unless the person has given the proposed defendant a concerns notice in respect of the matter concerned, the imputations to be relied on were particularised in the concerns notice, and the applicable period for an offer to make amends has elapsed."

This is a genuine precondition to litigation, not a courtesy. A claim filed without first serving a valid concerns notice and waiting out the applicable period is vulnerable to being struck out or stayed in every jurisdiction where this rule applies. The rule does not prevent the aggrieved person relying on only some of the imputations particularised in the notice, or on imputations that are substantially the same as those particularised, when the matter does proceed to litigation.

The Waiting Period: 28 Days, or 14 Days on Further Particulars

The applicable period a claimant must wait out after giving a concerns notice is 28 days. Where the notice is instead responding to a request for further particulars about an earlier, deficient notice, the applicable period shortens to 14 days. A court may grant leave to commence proceedings despite the waiting period not having elapsed, but only in narrow circumstances: where the proposed plaintiff satisfies the court that filing after the applicable period would breach the limitation period (because the court would, by then, have lost the power to extend it), or where it is otherwise just and reasonable to grant leave. See defamation time limits in Australia for how the concerns notice process interacts with, and can extend, the one-year limitation period itself.

Concerns Notices by Jurisdiction

Victoria and Queensland's exact section numbers have not been individually verified for this guide and are assumed, on the strength of how closely their Acts otherwise track the NSW model, to mirror the ss 12A-12B numbering above; a reader relying on the precise section number in either state should verify it directly. The Northern Territory is confirmed to use different numbers, ss 11A and 11B, because it runs a separately numbered Defamation Act 2006 rather than the "Defamation Act 2005" used in the other states.

Western Australia: No Mandatory Concerns Notice

Western Australia has not adopted the concerns notice precondition. Its Defamation Act 2005 (WA) retains the original, pre-2021 offers-to-make-amends division, which lets a publisher volunteer an offer to make amends after a claim is raised, but does not require a claimant to send a formal concerns notice or wait out any period before filing a claim. A person considering defamation action in Western Australia should not assume the concerns notice steps described above apply to them; they do not. See defamation law in Western Australia for the fuller picture of how litigation there differs from the rest of the country.

The Offer to Make Amends: A Related but Separate Step

Sitting alongside the concerns notice regime, in every jurisdiction including Western Australia, is a separate mechanism called an offer to make amends. Once a concerns notice has been given (or, in WA, at any point after a claim is raised), a publisher can respond with an offer to make amends, which may include a correction, an offer to publish a reasonable reply, an apology, or an offer to pay compensation and expenses. If the aggrieved person accepts a reasonable offer, they cannot then commence or continue defamation proceedings over that matter, and the offer becomes enforceable as an agreement. If they instead reject, or fail to respond to, an offer the court later finds was reasonable, that failure can be relied on as a defence, and can affect the costs outcome even where the plaintiff otherwise succeeds. This is a genuine incentive on both sides: an aggrieved person who is quick to reject a genuinely reasonable offer risks losing on that defence later, while a publisher who never makes an offer at all forgoes access to it.

What a Concerns Notice Cannot Do

A concerns notice is not itself a legal proceeding and does not, on its own, compel a publisher to do anything. It cannot force a retraction, cannot freeze a publication, and does not stop the aggrieved person's own limitation clock beyond the specific 56-day extension mechanism described above. Nor does giving a concerns notice guarantee that proceedings, if later filed, will succeed; it is a procedural precondition to suing, not an assessment of the underlying merits. A person who receives a concerns notice is also not required to accept every characterisation in it; a publisher can dispute the imputations alleged, respond with its own offer to make amends on different terms, or simply decline to respond and await any proceedings that follow.

Requesting Further Particulars

Where a concerns notice is unclear or incomplete, for example where the imputations are not identified with enough precision to allow a proper response, the recipient can request further particulars rather than treating the notice as valid or invalid outright. This request-and-response step is why the applicable waiting period shortens to 14 days for a notice given in response to a further-particulars request: the shorter period reflects that the substantive concerns notice process is already underway and the parties are refining rather than starting it. A publisher who receives a genuinely vague concerns notice, one that gestures at "defamatory content" without identifying which specific imputations are alleged, is generally better served by requesting particulars than by ignoring the notice altogether, since an inadequate notice can otherwise still be treated as having triggered the process.

This article provides general legal information about the concerns notice requirement in Australian defamation law, verified 20 July 2026. It is not legal advice and does not tell you what to write in a concerns notice for your situation. For that, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory.

Related reading: the Australian defamation law hub, the serious harm threshold, defamation time limits, and defamation law in Western Australia, the one jurisdiction where a concerns notice is not required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to send a concerns notice before suing for defamation in Australia?

In every jurisdiction except Western Australia, yes. It is a mandatory precondition: you cannot commence proceedings until you have given a valid concerns notice and the applicable waiting period, usually 28 days, has elapsed.

What has to be in a concerns notice?

It must be in writing, say where the matter can be accessed, identify the specific imputations you are concerned about, and identify the harm you consider serious (or, for a corporation, the serious financial loss claimed).

How long do I have to wait after sending a concerns notice?

Generally 28 days. If the notice is responding to a request for further particulars about an earlier notice, the waiting period is shortened to 14 days.

Can a court let me sue before the waiting period is over?

Only in limited circumstances: where waiting would cause you to miss the limitation period, or where the court is otherwise satisfied it is just and reasonable to grant leave.

Is a concerns notice required in Western Australia?

No. Western Australia has not adopted the mandatory concerns notice rule. A claimant there can commence proceedings without ever serving one.

Does the Northern Territory use the same section numbers as New South Wales for concerns notices?

No. The Northern Territory's concerns notice provisions are ss 11A and 11B of its own Defamation Act 2006, not ss 12A and 12B, because it is a separately numbered Act.