Adjudication No. 1269 (adjudicated February 2005) [2005] APC 2

Adjudication No. 1269 (adjudciated February 2005)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Trevor Harden against The Advertiser, Adelaide, about an article by Chief Political Reporter Paul Starick which was published on its front page at the start of the 2004 federal election campaign.

Headlined Caught out with a sub-heading Latham falters on first day with tax gaffe the article reported a radio interview in which Mark Latham was questioned about any plans the ALP had for a payroll tax. Mr Latham denied that any such plan existed.

The article went on to state that three weeks earlier Labor had released a workplace policy document describing an employee entitlements scheme which would be "funded by a levy of 0.1 per cent of payroll for businesses with more than 20 employees".

Mr Latham said that a levy was not the same as a tax, although he failed to clarify the difference.

In a subsequent joint press conference with Treasurer Peter Costello, Prime Minister John Howard accused Mr Latham of "either deliberate deception or monumental ignorance of his own party's policy".

Mr Harden complained that the "front page headlines and related copy" were a "clear abuse of this newspaper's responsibility to present news in an honest and unbiased manner".

He said that the article breached Press Council principles relating to the clear distinction between fact and opinion and the need for fairness and balance.

A large part of the complaint concerned the interpretation of the words 'tax' and 'levy' with Mr Harden claiming that they were not identical terms.

In rejecting that it misrepresented the issue the newspaper claimed that the article's interpretation of the similarity of the terms was valid. It also stated: "While Mr Howard does not use the words 'caught out' his comments make it clear that he believes Mr Latham was either lying or did not understand his own policy on taxation".

The newspaper supported the reporter's interpretation of the issue and described the headline as "perfectly reasonable".

The Press Council does not believe that the article breached its principles.