Adjudication No. 1359  (adjudicated June 2007)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint from Timber Communities Australia against the Mercury, Hobart, relating to their reporting of the resignation of Dr Warwick Raverty from the Resource Planning and Development Commission's advisory panel on the Gunn's Pulp Mill proposal.

On 16 January, in an article titled Scientist hits out at claims, the Mercury stated that Dr Raverty 'was forced to resign from his role on the Resource Planning and Development Commission panel assessing the pulp mill proposal following actions of the Government's pro-pulp mill task force website.'

Timber Communities Australia says that this reporting is false as Dr Raverty's letter to the editor published on 10 January states, "I have decided to withdraw as a member of the panel with immediate effect. ... I do so only because of the paramount importance of protecting the panel's assessment process and avoiding my membership of the panel becoming an issue which causes delays or disruptions to the work of the panel".

In the light of the Mercury's wide coverage of the issue over a ten-day period, and in the absence of a complaint from Dr Raverty on the report, the Press Council dismisses the complaint.

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