Adjudication No. 1339  (adjudicated October 2006)

The Australian Press Council has upheld a complaint from Monica Morgan against the Riverine Herald, a Victorian country newspaper published in Echuca, about two articles published on 2 August and 7 August in relation to a Yorta Yorta decision on the construction of the Echuca-Moama bridge across the Murray River.

In both articles, allegations were made that the Yorta Yorta people had acted unconstitutionally in opposing the bridge construction. The Yorta Yorta were given no opportunity to comment in either article.

The complainant, the Public Officer for the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation (YYNAC), said that the articles contained inaccurate statements regarding the structure and processes of the YYNAC. The complainant also said that the article of 2 August was not balanced.

The newspaper did not publish a letter from the complainant, pursuant to a request from the chairperson of the YYNAC, as the newspaper said it exceeded 300 words and also contained certain unacceptable allegations. A re-submitted version was published by the newspaper on 1 September (under the heading, Yorta Yorta retorts) on page four (in contrast to the two articles, which appeared on the front page).

In focusing on the 2 August article, the complainant claimed that a balanced approach would require a response from the Yorta Yorta in the same story. The article reported the proceedings of a meeting about the bridge project involving local and state government representatives and some indigenous people, in which the Yorta Yorta were not involved.

In publishing the letter from the YYNAC, the newspaper has provided some belated balance. However, given the seriousness of the issue and the fact that both articles were given front-page prominence, the redress was not adequate.

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