Adjudication No. 651 (July 1993) [1993] APC 43

ADJUDICATION No. 651 (July 1993)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint by two solicitors against The West Australian.

The complaint arose from the publication of a report, conceded to be fair and accurate, of a claim made in Parliament by Independent MLC Reg Davies that the two solicitors, Colin Chenu and Gerard O'Hara, had said that his phone was being tapped.

Mr Davies said that the lawyers had told Peter Holz, a professional photographer, of the tapping, and had said that they were hired by the WA Police Union to investigate Mr Davies.

The following day the paper carried a report of a denial by Mr O'Hara of any such activity. He said that both he and Mr Chenu had acted for the police union, but suggestions that they were investigating Mr Davies were absurd.

Later, a Parliamentary Select Committee investigated the claim of phone tapping and surveillance. It issued a report that rejected the allegations; it dismissed Mr Holz as an unreliable witness and said there was no substance to the matters he raised.

The paper carried the findings in a report, again conceded to be fair in itself. The Parliamentary findings, however, did not name the two solicitors, nor did the paper's report.

Mr Chenu and Mr O'Hara claim that in not mentioning their names in the report of the Parliamentary findings the paper had not been fair, since they had been mentioned in the paper's original report.

The paper counters by saying that it had already carried the denial of any surveillance, and the paper had reported accurately the Parliamentary findings.

The Press Council dismisses the complaint and believes the solicitors were treated fairly by the newspaper.