In Victoria, South Australia, and the Northern Territory the common law still determines criminal liability also.
Any libel providing it is sufficiently serious can also lead to criminal proceedings.
This leaves the somewhat unsatisfactory result that criminal liability is imposed in some situations where civil liability would not be. Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania have codified the criminal liability in identical terms providing for a misdemeanour where there is no knowledge of the falsity of the imputations or, where there is knowledge of falsity, a more serious penalty. What is needed to find a mens rea for these offences is unclear.