Defamation Concerns Notice — $49
A few quick questions · $49 once · No card until the final step
Before you start: Defamation Concerns Notice
Statutory concerns notice — required before defamation proceedings in every state and territory except Western Australia. 28-day response window. Common reasons: someone posted false statements about you online (Facebook, Google reviews, Instagram, X); a former employer, client, or associate is spreading lies about you.
- Answer plain questions about your situationAbout 5 minutes, one question at a time. No legal knowledge and no card needed.
- See how your document is set out, then pay $49 onceBy card through Stripe. The full document is drafted in about 5 minutes.
- Read it, change it, then approve itChange the wording yourself or ask for a redraft (unlimited edits, 2 redrafts included). Nothing is sent until you approve it.
You can stop at any point before paying, at no cost.
What's included
- Concerns notice under your state's Defamation Act (s 12A in New South Wales)
- Identification of each defamatory imputation as required by law
- Clear demand for removal, retraction, and/or correction
- The 28-day period in which the publisher can make an offer to make amends
- Reference to the publisher's right to make an offer of amends under s 15
- Emailed to the publisher once you approve it, or downloaded for you to post or hand-deliver
What to have ready
- Who it goes to: their name, and their email if you want us to send it
- The key dates, and any amounts involved
- Any documents, emails or messages. Tell us in the chat what you have; the document can refer to them.
Common questions
What is a concerns notice?A written notice to the publisher that says where the matter can be found (for example a web address), the defamatory imputations you are concerned about, and the harm you consider to be serious harm to your reputation, with a copy of the matter where practicable (Defamation Act 2005 (NSW) s 12A, and the same rule in the other states and territories that have adopted the 2021 reforms). A business that is able to sue must also set out its serious financial loss.
Do I have to send one before I can sue?In New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, yes. You cannot start defamation proceedings until you have given the publisher a concerns notice, the imputations you rely on were in it, and the period for an offer to make amends has passed (for example s 12B of the New South Wales Act; s 11B in the Northern Territory, for matter published on or after 11 August 2025). Western Australia has not adopted these reforms: a concerns notice is still used there, but it is not a condition of starting proceedings.
What happens after I give the notice?The publisher has 28 days to make an "offer to make amends", for example removal, an apology, a correction or compensation (if they ask for further particulars and you give them more than 14 days after the notice, they have 14 days from receiving them). If no offer is made, or you do not accept it, the next step is defamation proceedings in court.
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