Adjudication No. 373 (July 1988) [1988] APC 20

ADJUDICATION No. 373 (July 1988)

The letters to the editor columns of the Hills Gazette on 27 October last contained a letter relating to the banning of South African Airways flights by the Australian Government. The writer suggested that a similar attitude should be shown by the Government towards the USSR. The editor explained that ordinarily he does not accept letters which do not touch on local affairs, but he claimed that since the issue was immediately topical as there had been correspondence and stories about the noise problem with the airport [Dhatch] the Gazette circulation area is in the flight path to Perth International Airport [Dhatch] he decided to publish the letter.

On 10 November a letter was published in reply, disagreeing with the views of the initial writer, on the grounds that if the Government acted on his advice and banned contact with all countries guilty of violent or repressive measures against humanity, "we would have very few trading partners or 'friendly' visitors". The writer went on to alert readers to "the insidious controlling influence of a foreign nation" [Dhatch] by implication, the USA.

The complainant then entered the debate, with a letter being published on 17 November. He endorsed the condemnation of South Africa but it was his view that an equally strong condemnation should be made of the "communist regime of the USSR". He then stated, "Why doesn't A. Hudson (the writer of the second letter), who prefers the Soviet regime to the US one, depart in peace from the reach of the Yanks and for the benefit of this country where the overwhelming majority of people believe that Australia must play its role in the defence of the free world".

A reply was then published from A. Hudson, in the course of which he said:

Gullible people of the Nazi block in 1939 kept silent when conveniently 'overlooking' the atrocities around them and in neighbouring countries. I expect a higher standard of the Government neighbouring countries. I expect a higher standard of the Government I elect and will not ignore those wrongs it may do or condone just because other countries do likewise I am unmoved by his suggestion that I should ship out of Australia. The idea is reminiscent of the Russia which shipped people to distant places for declaring views opposite to those of the Government. How odd that F. Hrubos should suggest a similar measure just because my views do not tally with his ...

At the end of this letter the editor stated "This debate is now closed. No more correspondence on the subject will be accepted."

Mr Hrubos then wrote a letter to the editor pointing out that he came from Czechoslovakia and noted at the foot of the letter it was "in reply to Hudson's attack on people who were forced under the jackboot of Nazism". Apparently it was not published; the editor believed the letter was a long way from the issue which started the debate and rejected it because he had already announced that the debate was closed. Besides, the editor claims this letter addressed Nazism, a new subject, and indeed if it were published Mr Hudson would then require right of reply.

The complainant argues that his letter should have been published because Mr Hudson had attacked him personally.

The Council has carefully considered the letter containing the reference to the "gullible people of the Nazi block in 1939". The Council does not feel that sentence is intended or can be read as a personal attack on Mr Hrubos. The Council does not think that it would be obvious to readers that Mr Hrubos had been a citizen of a country which had been absorbed into the "Nazi block".

The complaint is dismissed.