Adjudication No. 1395  (adjudicated June 2008)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against the Albany and Great Southern Weekender about an article in its edition of 17 January 2008.

The article was one of a series published by the newspaper concerning a local waterfront project, with a sub-article referring to a "referendum" held by the Albany branch of VOICE Australia, a group which initiates polls it calls "citizens' referenda" to further its political objectives.

The complainant, Vera Torr, a VOICE member who had manned a polling booth for the "referendum", said the last three paragraphs of the sub-article contained an insinuation about the group's intentions, and that the final paragraph was defamatory of her. She wrote a long letter to the newspaper stating her views and asking for a printed apology.

In its response the newspaper advised that the article had failed to make it absolutely clear that it was the State Government which had questioned the group's intentions and that the final paragraph should have explained that the group had used the electoral roll to "telemarket local ratepayers" on the issue.

It was this last paragraph, which read, 'There is also the use of personal information about every Albany resident originating from electoral rolls being used by the group', which Ms Torr said was defamatory as it accused her of misusing electoral roll information. Ms Torr was not named anywhere in the article but believed she was identifiable as "we are easily identified and wear name tags when manning the polling booth". She confirmed the group's possession of a copy of the roll.

The originator of VOICE, Malcolm McClure, had made known his dissatisfaction with the same two paragraphs of the article at a meeting with the newspaper, but did not wish to pursue the matter.

The newspaper twice offered Ms Torr the opportunity to write a letter to the editor; both offers were rejected, with Ms Torr demanding a printed apology.

This particular development project is obviously an important local issue and the newspaper has published a number of articles and letters on the subject several of which refer to the VOICE "referendum".

The Council does not believe any of its principles was breached by the newspaper.

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