Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Court	High Court of Australia
Full case name	David Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Decided	8 July 1997
Citations	[1997] HCA 25, (1997) 189 CLR 520
Court membership
Judges sitting	Brennan CJ, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow and Kirby JJ
Case opinions
(7:0) The Court decided to reconsider Theophanous and Stephens, and decided that those cases were incorrect. The Constitution does not confer personal rights as to the implied freedom of political communication

Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation^[1] is a High Court of Australia case that upheld the existence of an implied freedom of political communication in the Australian Constitution, but found that it did not necessarily provide a defence to a defamation action. The High Court extended the defence of qualified privilege to be compatible with the freedom of political communication.^[2]