Adjudication No. 1400 (adjudicated August 2008) [2008] APC 21

Adjudication No. 1400 (adjudicated August 2008)

The Australian Press Council has upheld complaints brought by the Western Australian Minister for Energy, Resources, Industry and Enterprise, Francis Logan, against The Australian regarding four articles which related to a shutdown at the North West Shelf plant operated by Woodside Petroleum on 2 January 2008.

The four articles, which were critical of action taken by Mr Logan to avert a gas shortage arising from the shutdown, were published in the newspaper from 20 to 23 February 2008, the first under the headline, Taxpayers foot $9M gas bill after panic buying.

Mr Logan had intervened to secure an alternative source of gas to prevent electricity blackouts, and this led to an offer by Burrup Fertilisers to supply gas to Verve Energy, the state's biggest energy supplier.

His complaint, in the main, was directed at the reporting as a 'fact' that his 'involvement in securing the gas meant that Verve Energy paid too much for it', and this had been done while the Minister was in a state of panic.

In respect to the Minister's main concern with the facts, the Council found that the newspaper was in error in its reference to a "$9 million gas bill" when, in fact, the amount paid for the gas was just over $1 million, while nearly $8 million was paid for diesel fuel, both at the market price on the day

Further, given the seriousness of the 'accusation' levelled at Mr Logan, it was incumbent on the newspaper to distinguish in its articles the reporting of hearsay comments and that of facts. The newspaper has sought to justify its reporting by relying on comments from a leaked email, which emanated from employees of a third party to the negotiations to secure gas supplies from Burrup Fertilisers.

The newspaper was entitled to pursue the line that Mr Logan had been involved in the price negotiation for gas supplies from Burrup Fertilisers based on the leaked email, but fairness demanded that the newspaper give Mr Logan an opportunity to comment on this assertion. Even though Mr Logan's press secretary was contacted, the only questions put were whether Mr Logan contacted Burrup Fertilisers to secure a gas supply and the cost of the gas supply. The newspaper was told that Mr Logan 'had no involvement in the cost of gas'.

Given the resulting lack of balance in the original article, the Council finds that the newspaper was unfair to Mr Logan.

Mr Logan made attempts to have the newspaper set the record straight. Following a briefing by Mr Logan, the newspaper further treated Mr Logan unfairly by transcribing his admissions 'that people could jump to the conclusion that the Government had paid too much for the emergency gas and that he had played a role in the negotiations' into admissions of guilt. A sentence in the 23 February article, which began with the words 'Mr Logan's admissions followed three days of denials of reports ...', conveyed to a reasonable reader the impression that Mr Logan was admitting involvement in the price negotiations with Burrup Fertilisers.

In response to complaints about the newspaper's failure to correct the articles, the newspaper eventually published a letter from Mr Logan, but deleted one paragraph criticising the newspaper for not correcting its errors. The letter was published on 22 March 2008. The newspaper said that the delay in the publication of this letter was occasioned by Mr Logan's press secretary sending the letter by post to The Australian's Sydney office, without informing anyone at The Australian in either Perth or Sydney.

In the Council's view, the newspaper failed properly to acknowledge its error in accusing Mr Logan of an involvement in the price negotiations for gas supplies from Burrup Fertilisers and on this aspect as well the Council upholds the complaint.