Adjudication No. 205 (October 1984) [1984] APC 28

ADJUDICATION No. 205 (October 1984)

Mr Gibbs, the Minister for Mines and Energy in Queensland, complains that an article of comment by a Political columnist, Peter Morley, in the Courier-Mail of 7 July 1984 was unfair and inaccurate. The article, headed "National MPs look for blood", dealt with controversy over electricity tariff increases, for which the Government had been criticised. The article said that Mr Gibbs had "ducked for cover when he should be out pushing the case like a vacuum cleaner salesman". It went on to discuss the consequences to the Government of the fact that it had "never got its message across", and the arguments which, in the author's view, might have been put by the Minister.

Mr Gibbs' complaint is that the article implied that he had not made certain points relating to interstate comparisons and to the effect of large capital investments, whereas he had in fact made these points in two press statements issued in May. However, the press statements did not develop these points in the detailed and persuasive way in which the article argued they could have been developed.

In the view of the Press Council these statements were only marginally relevant to the thrust of the article, and the fact that they had been issued two months before would have been no effective answer to the criticism in the article. Accordingly the article was not unfair or inaccurate.

Mr Gibbs wrote a letter to the editor complaining about the article, which was not published. The council thinks that the editor reasonably concluded that the letter was a private complaint, not a letter for publication.

The complaint is dismissed.