Adjudication No. 847 (March 1996) [1996] APC 21

ADJUDICATION NO. 847 (March 1996)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from S E Cannard against The Melbourne Age.

Mr Cannard complains that a feature article, published under the headline "DALLAS" in the News Extra section of Saturday 16 December 1995, breaches several of the Press Council's principles. He details several sections to support his complaint.

The article describes the Broadmeadows housing commission estate, of which the suburb Dallas is a part, as broad[Dhatch]acre housing on a vast scale and as a sprawling and dispiritingly uniform expanse with tens of thousands of little boxes built on the flatlands and deals with the problems of placing tens of thousands of people in one remote under[Dhatch]serviced area.

The writer uses a report by Fodia Andreou, a "Broady Girl", to describe conditions in Dallas. Ms Andreou, a local community worker commissioned by the Housing Commission, made a survey of Dallas and found the condition of many of the houses to be forlorn or worse and their occupants living in substandard circumstances. She says that the public housing system has become welfare housing. The article adds that, partly as a result of her damning report, the Ministry of Planning and Development is developing a strategy to deal with the problems of Dallas although priority funding to achieve this is going to other areas.

The feature compares the changes that a $4 million improvement program has made to the Banksia Garden estate, a Broadmeadows area previously comparable with Dallas. A purpose[Dhatch]built community centre was developed resulting in an effective transition of the area under the supervision of the centre coordinator. The writer also refers to specific problems in the public housing zone of Coolaroo West and Olsen Place.

The writer says that the feature is a timely look at the state of public housing [Dhatch] past, present and future potential [Dhatch] in the big suburb of Broadmeadows following the government's major change in direction away from funding public housing.

While there are some minor inaccuracies, the article gives a great deal of attention to the concerns of the community centre coordinator and the area community worker regarding the thrust of new government policy. The content of the article is largely based on the research and comment of people closely associated with the area.

The Press Council finds no breach of its principles.