Adjudication No. 180 (February 1984) [1984] APC 3

ADJUDICATION No. 180 (February 1984)

By letter of 7 December 1982, the Moree Chamber of Commerce complains of reports of events in Moree published by the Daily Telegraph on 6 November 1982. In the course of those events, an Aborigine was shot dead, and proceedings for murder were taken against three non-Aboriginal men, two of whom were subsequently convicted.

The Australian Press Council considered that the complaint should not be heard while the prosecution was in progress since the proceedings related to the same general happenings in Moree on 4 November 1982. The complaint suggests that the newspaper report was sensational and exaggerated the extent to which the events in question were related to racial hostility in that town. The reports were based on investigations by reporters who went to Moree and interviewed persons involved in the happenings. The Press Council considers that the facts of the situation were reported with substantial accuracy and the comments on the state of affairs disclosed were reasonable.

The council understands the feeling of the Moree community that they were singled out for comments which could be made about many people and communities in Australia, and in a manner which has demonstrably injured the town as a whole. However, the events were of a kind inevitably attracting special attention.

The complaint is dismissed.