Adjudication No. 1244 (July 2004) [2004] APC 19

Adjudication No. 1244 (July 2004)

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint from a former Wagga Wagga mayor against The Daily Advertiser over the paper's reporting of a lengthy dispute between the mayor and a group of fellow councillors.

The ex-mayor, Kevin Wales, accused the paper of a deliberate attempt to discredit his personal integrity and credibility among the Wagga community. The attempt, he claims, succeeded and he lost his position as mayor in a later election.

In October and November last year the paper ran several stories on what it described as "turmoil brewing for some time" in the council. In an extra-council meeting with the then mayor, six councillors, armed with nine statutory declarations, called on him to resign. This followed the council's decision, supported by the mayor, to use external, independent auditors to carry out investigations into allegations of corrupt conduct.

In an editorial the paper called for the State Government to appoint an administrator for the city because of infighting in the council, and later two investigators from the NSW Department of Local Government made enquiries they described as "routine information gathering".

In the statutory declarations from the councillors, a string of allegations was made against the mayor, broadly of failing to act correctly and impartially in dealing with a workplace relations investigation involving a council officer. The mayor categorically denied any wrong-doing.

Reports, letters, editorials, and a long statement from Cr Wales in full and in summary marked the weeks of dispute, although little new light appeared.

The paper denies any lack of balance and fairness in its coverage, and says at no time did it act in a malicious, improper or unethical manner.

The Press Council can find no breach of its principles in the paper's actions, in a complicated and obviously emotionally charged matter. The paper reported the charges and denials of a significant local matter in a balanced way.