Adjudication No. 1083 (June 2000) [2000] APC 18

ADJUDICATION No. 1083 (June 2000)

The Chairman of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), Geoff Clark, has complained to the Australian Press Council about two articles in The Australian newspaper.

The articles were published last December, within days of Mr Clark's election as ATSIC chairman - the first time the organisation elected its chairman. He complained, through his lawyer, that the articles were grossly unfair to him.

The Press Council has dismissed his complaint. It found that one article was no more than an accurate and balanced account of events and of the views of people interviewed and quoted, and the second article was a by-lined opinion piece expressing the views of a columnist widely known for her reportage of aboriginal affairs.

The first of the articles, by two reporters, set its tone in the heading "No Compromise" and the summary: "The new macho man of Aboriginal politics is in no mood to kowtow to a government he believes has betrayed his people. But will Geoff Clark's radicalism inspire - or hobble - the struggle for Aboriginal rights?"

The article sets out praise for Mr Clark by noted Aborigines, as well as unflattering comments by his uncle.

The Press Council is unable to view this article as anything other than normal reportage about a man suddenly of national importance. It does not find the article to be unbalanced or unfair.

As to the by-lined article, the columnist accurately quoted Mr Clark's comments on the disqualification from the ATSIC board of Aboriginal activist Murrandoo Yanner after he was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, suspended, for his part in a brawl.

Mr Clark said of this situation, referring, according to his lawyer, only to the application of legislation concerning ATSIC, that Yanner's offences "had nothing to do with dishonesty" and that "the law should make a distinction between dishonesty and assault".

The columnist took the view that Mr Clark by these comments was sending a message that violence by an Aboriginal politician was acceptable. The Press Council finds no breach of any of its principles in the columnist's expression of her opinion, however strongly expressed and however disagreeable to Mr Clark.

During the Council's hearing of Mr Clark's complaint, The Australian offered him an opportunity to submit an article for publication in the paper's opinion columns, an offer he declined.