Adjudication No. 65 (August 1979) [1979] APC 18

ADJUDICATION No. 65 (August 1979)

The Dapto Branch of the Australian Labor Party complained to the Australian Press Council of an article in The Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong, on March 28, 1979, concerning the possibility of governmental intervention to cause the issue of a noxious trades licence to an offal rendering company at Dapto against the wishes of the local council.

The Editor defended the article as being based upon a document submitted to the council by its own officers which had said it was apparent that the company had made representations to the State Minister for Health and that there was a distinct possibility of the Health Commission being directed to exercise its powers to require the Council to issue a noxious trades licence.

The article, however, under a banner headline stating that the firm could get a stench licence, spoke in a secondary headline of a "Government threat to overrule City Council", and in its first paragraph said that the State Government was "threatening to ride rough-shod over the Wollongong City Council and interfere with its efforts to stop a Yallah offal-rendering firm polluting Dapto with foul smells".

The Press Council found that the body of the article contained nothing to support the suggestion that the State Government was threatening to override the City Council and nothing had been said in defence of the article which justified that suggestion. The article clearly overstated the facts and could not be excused.

The complaint was upheld.