Adjudication No. 1432  (adjudicated July 2009)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Witan Holdings Pty Ltd, which runs the Gingin Meatworks in Western Australia, over a series of articles, photographs and a letter to the editor in the Sun City News about the Gingin Shire Council and the operations of the meatworks. The articles and the letter were published between January 27 and May 19 this year.

The company said the series of articles contained inaccurate and damaging allegations and implied that Witan had repeatedly breached conditions of its licence and the local Gingin Shire had taken no action and that the articles were not fair and balanced.

The newspaper said it had offered to publish the company's position on the issue but it had been declined and a meeting between the newspaper and the company broke down. The editor said he had tried several times to get comment from the company and the offer to interview the manager was still open. The company said that, apart from the one meeting, it had no knowledge of any other approaches.

The company's lawyers wrote to the paper on May 13 outlining the series of complaints about the articles and the possible legal consequences. The letter also gave notice that it was raising these matters as required before lodging a complaint with the Press Council.

The Press Council believes the series of articles by the Sun City News does not breach its principles. The campaign appeared to focus on what the paper believed was the Council's lack of action over maintaining the conditions for the operation of the abattoir, confusion over guidelines for a buffer zone and the start of construction of a building on the site before Shire council approval had been given.

The Sun City News is a small, family-run fortnightly paper and it is clear the operation of the meatworks is the subject of controversy and public interest. Efforts to get balancing comments from the company appear to have fallen down after the one unsuccessful meeting and the parties differ on the reasons for the breakdown in contact.

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