Adjudication No. 212 (January 1985) [1985] APC 4

ADJUDICATION No. 212 (January 1985)

Jack Kidd, national secretary of The Amalgamated Metals Foundry and Shipwrights Union, complains about coverage in The Australian and Daily Telegraph of elections in the union.

He makes seven specific complaints about an article in The Australian on Monday, 10 September, written by John Monks of the News Limited group's Melbourne bureau, and a rewrite of this article which appeared as an unbylined news story in the Daily Telegraph two days earlier.

The stories appeared during elections in the AMFSU, one of Australia's biggest unions, in which Mr Kidd was being opposed by the Melbourne-based Reform Group candidate Rod Kelly. Mr Kelly had stood unsuccessfully against Mr Kidd in 1980 and also had failed in elections against Victorian secretary John Halfpenny in 1981 and national president Dick Scott in 1982.

In correspondence following Mr Kidd's original letter to the Press Council on 18 October, both the union and the newspaper group raised matters which the council does not consider have any proper bearing on the specific complaints.

Before dealing with the complaints, the council notes the contention on behalf of the newspaper that the signed article in The Australian was a "profile" or "personality" piece on Mr Kelly. Such articles are written on the assumption of some readership understanding of the background of events in which the featured personality is a major participant. The council also notes Mr Kidd's acknowledgment that following protests by the union, the Daily Telegraph ran articles on 11 September and 12 September which went some way to meeting the basis of his complaints about the first report.

The council has taken these factors into consideration in upholding the following complaints by Mr Kidd:

1. Serious allegations were made reflecting on AMFSU officials without any attempt to achieve balance by seeking comments from them.

The Australian article said that ever since Mr Kelly "took on" the union leadership he had been out of a job despite 146 interviews in the past few months. It then quotes him as saying:

As soon as they learn who I am, that's it. Oppose the leadership of the AMFSU and you can forget working at a job."

In the Daily Telegraph this appeared as:

But Mr Kelly's bid to bring the reform group to power has left him unemployed for 12 months with metal industry employers unwilling to risk the wrath of the existing AMFSU leadership by offering him a job.

The newspapers are not criticised for publishing these statements by Mr Kelly. But, because they imply serious allegations against AMFSU officials, they should have been balanced by giving officials an opportunity to reply. This was not done.

2. The Daily Telegraph report, presented as a news story, omitted any mention of Mr Kidd, even though it was his position Mr Kelly was seeking. This becomes more serious because the report was accompanied by a photograph of AMFSU national assistant secretary Laurie Carmichael, whose position was not up for election, with the caption "... a defeat predicted". This was misleading in the context.

3. The Daily Telegraph report was unfair to AMFSU officials by omission in reference to the wages accord. The report mentioned that the Reform Group had pledged to "adopt a policy of adherence to Prime Minister Mr Hawke's wages accord". Mr Kidd points out that it is a matter of public record that the AMFSU leadership played a key role in drawing up and implementing this accord. Mention of this fact would have removed any possible impression that the Reform Group was adopting a new policy.

The Press Council dismisses Mr Kidd's other complaints.