Ms Karyn Harty:

It has to be borne in mind that the potential of proceedings carries its own slight chilling effect. There has to be some level of discipline in that regard. For example, if there has been a complaint of defamation against a media organisation or an academic who has written a paper, not knowing what will happen or the potential for proceedings to issue existing for an extended period would be a very unsatisfactory position. The provision of one year, with scope to extend, gets the balance about right. In my experience, the vast majority of plaintiffs move quite quickly.