Adjudication No. 1197 (May 2003) [2003] APC 13

Adjudication No. 1197 (May 2003)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The Australian by Robert Day, about an article dealing with allegations of a "Mafia-style black slave labour racket".

In October 2002, a water tower under construction at Lake Cargelligo (NSW) collapsed, killing two men and seriously injuring at least one other, a South African, Oagiles Malothane, who had been brought to Australia by one of the men killed, the head of the construction firm erecting the tower.

Mr Malothane and the head of the firm were said to have had a "long-standing business relationship" in South Africa. Mr Malothane was in Australia on a 3-month business visa whose terms precluded his being employed or paid as an employee, although he clearly expected eventually to earn a substantial sum for his work.

In a series of articles, The Australian investigated the background and sequel to the accident, and canvassed a number of issues arising from it. These included the requirements for obtaining an Australian business visa, as well as claims by the South African High Commissioner that Mr Malothane had been exploited as part of a scheme in which uneducated South Africans were brought to Australia to work for "slave wages".

Mr Day, a neighbour of the head of the firm, complained particularly about one of these articles (I was never paid, says black worker). Mr Day vigorously disputed Mr Malothane's reported claim that he had not been paid for his work, and a possible inference from the article that the head of the firm may have been involved with "organized crime, unlawful conduct, exploitation, and ... a 'black slave trade'".

The article, he said, was causing unbearable distress to the man's wife and children. He contacted The Australian by phone and fax on the day it appeared and, just over a week later, wrote a letter to the editor to express his concerns. The paper says it can find no record of the written communications from him, however.

The Australian insisted that its coverage of the matter had been responsible, accurate and fair throughout. It had gone to considerable lengths to check the story and, through an interpreter, had obtained a statement from Mr Malothane himself. The article had also included a brief extract from a statement issued by a friend of the deceased man's family, describing Mr Malothane as an expert in the kind of concrete formwork being used at Lake Cargelligo.

The Press Council finds it regrettable that Mr Day's letter to The Australian seems to have been mislaid, and could therefore not be considered for publication.

Furthermore, given Mr Malothane's blunt claim of non-payment in the headline, the Council believes the article would have been better balanced if it had reported the specific statement by the family friend that "by agreement, [Mr Malothane] was to be paid after the completion of the project and will still be paid in full despite the project not now being completed". The Australian said this statement was removed in sub-editing.

With these reservations however, the Council considers that the article was fair. Allegations that workers like Mr Malothane were being exploited were clearly of significant public interest, and The Australian was justified in exploring them.

The article reported several points of view on these claims, including that of the deceased man's family. While it is true that readers might have inferred a connection between the firm's head and a "labour racket", The Australian was in no position categorically to establish or dismiss such a connection, and its report was clearly framed to avoid any definite claim that it existed.