Adjudication No. 623 (February 1993) [1993] APC 15

ADJUDICATION No. 623 (February 1993)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Mr Leo Zussino, Chairman of the Gladstone Port Authority, against the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin over an article about his application for a liquor licence in the port authority area.

The article on 31 October 1992 reported that Mr Zussino, as licensee of Hansons Grand Hotel in Gladstone, had applied for a licence to set up a bottle shop within the Gladstone marina area.

Mr Zussino said the headline "Chairman plans port bottle shop", the article itself and a less than flattering accompanying photograph portrayed him as having used his privileged position for benefit.

In a letter to the Press Council, Mr Zussino said his public position was never mentioned in his application to the Division of Liquor Licensing and he took no part in the Gladstone Port Authority's deliberations on his application to lease space for the bottle shop to the marina.

But he said the newspaper clearly intended to suggest the opposite by quoting a division spokesman as saying Mr Zussino's position as Port Authority chairman "did not come into it".

The Press Council does not see this inference. Rather, the whole thrust of the article was that Mr Zussino had acted properly to avoid a conflict of interests. Public officials must expect full scrutiny by the media whenever this issue arises, no matter how scrupulous they may have been to avoid reproach.