❓ Premier Carpenter addresses a misrepresentation in The West Australian newspaper regarding his views on global warming's impact on WA, highlighting a complaint upheld by the Australian Press Council.
AnsweredQoN 152Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GLOBAL WARMING - PRESS MISREPRESENTATION OF PREMIER’S VIEWS
Is global warming good for Western Australia? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
Is global warming good for Western Australia? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question. Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question. Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question. Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question. Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
I thank the member for Victoria Park for the question. Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is very interesting to listen to the reaction of members to that question. Most people would laugh at such a proposition. Global warming and climate change are very important issues, particularly for Western Australia. I was pleased that The West Australian sought my views about these very issues on behalf of the government in the wake of the Stern report last year. I had what I considered to be a very good interview with Robert Taylor, a senior political reporter for The West Australian , for more than an hour on the issue of global warming and our response to the Stern report. I thought at the time that I had provided a fair bit of information. I made the basic point that Western Australia, with its abundant gas reserves and commitment to renewable energy, was well positioned to fight the impacts of climate change and global warming and, to use Mr Taylor’s own words, “To help save the planet as best we can.” Therefore, it came as something more than a surprise the following day when I picked up the newspaper and was confronted with a story under the headline “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier”. The article was accompanied by a photograph of a dried-up lake, underneath which was a caption that states, “Alan Carpenter believes climate change will have benefits for WA.” I thought that was a most bizarre misrepresentation of a point of view which was not gathered in the moment but which was explained over an hour. It was the most bizarre misrepresentation I had ever seen. Since then I have seen an even more bizarre misrepresentation, of course, on the issue of health. I was very surprised by the article because I think that Robert Taylor is a good writer. Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr J.A. McGinty : Do you? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Yes, I do. He is a good writer. Just in case people might have taken that misrepresentation seriously, we sought to correct the information contained in the article by issuing a clarifying statement. That statement provoked another story from the same newspaper, written not by Robert Taylor, but by Daniel Emerson. That article is headed “Premier goes cold on global warming bonus”. Daniel Emerson accused me of doing a backflip! It was not dissimilar to the backflip I had been accused of doing on uranium mining when I said that there would be no uranium mining in Western Australia. It is journalistic callisthenics taken to new heights. I can only assume that both of the reporters have been instructed by a higher authority about the way that they misrepresent the issues, because I do not believe that either of them would have done it voluntarily. Given that this is an important issue that requires sensible debate from all parts of the political and social spectrum, I thought it necessary to do my best to rectify this misrepresentation. For the first time in my life, I decided that we should complain to the Australian Press Council. We did not expect to succeed because the Press Council does not have a history of upholding many complaints. However, to my delight, last week the Press Council upheld the complaint that we had made against The West Australian . A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
A government member interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Not yet, no. The Press Council findings state that the WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet claims a breach of Press Council principles relating to accuracy, and it lists the basis of the story as I have just outlined it. The Press Council further states - A reader of the full report would understand that the headline and comment refer to the fact that WA might benefit from the world actions taken to fight global warming, but the casual reader scanning only the headline and lead sentence of the first article, particularly in conjunction with the photograph, would be led to a different view. In other words, the story misrepresented the situation. It further states - This complaint is upheld. It agreed that the article “Global warming is good for WA economy, says Premier” was a total misrepresentation of my point of view. It also upheld our complaint against the subsequent story. The Press Council found - The complaint against the second article is also upheld because it essentially repeats the initial misrepresentation of the Premier’s response. I am grateful that the Press Council has taken that position. A newspaper is usually required to immediately publish the findings of the Press Council. We received that advice from the Press Council last Wednesday. It was embargoed until last Friday, and today it is the Wednesday of the following week, and yet nothing has appeared in the newspaper. That is a great shame and speaks volumes for the total lack of journalistic ethics displayed on a daily basis by the editor of that newspaper. Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Dr K.D. Hames : You keep bagging it. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Most politicians on the member’s side of politics are afraid to take on The West Australian newspaper. It needs to be taken on because it is in the hands of a disgracefully disreputable editor - Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr J.A. McGinty : He’s a criminal. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who is also a criminal. It reflects poorly on the management and the board members of that newspaper that nothing is done when these gross misrepresentations of reality are published in that newspaper on a daily basis when people in public life or other life give the paper information in all good faith. I do not entirely blame Robert Taylor, because it is part of the editorial culture of The West Australian to get away with printing any rubbish because neither the board nor the management will do anything about it. They let it happen. My advice to the reporters at The West Australian - there are some very good reporters there - is to stand up for journalistic ethics. Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Don’t fabricate material. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I never had a complaint. They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
They should be their own person and recognise that the newspaper has been dragged into complete disrepute by the current editor. I do not blame him entirely either, because the downhill slide started with the now disgraced former editor, Paul Murray, who pulled the plug on journalistic ethics at The West Australian while he was there, and it has been in decline ever since. Paul Murray did his best to resuscitate Noel Crichton-Browne and Brian Burke by employing them as political analysts on his talkback radio station. What a disgrace that was. I also urge every single member of the Western Australian public who is misrepresented by The West Australian newspaper to lodge a formal complaint with the Australian Press Council. If they feel that they have been misrepresented, they should lodge a formal complaint. They should not rely on any other means of redress because they will get nowhere with that newspaper. It is important to put on the public record the truth about these matters. It may be that Hansard is the only vehicle we have left to put on the public record the truth about these matters. I urge members of the public to challenge the misrepresentation of The West Australian , which it does so regularly. I will be interested to see whether the newspaper has the gumption and strength to publish the Australian Press Council’s findings, as it is required to do, and as it has so far failed to do. I have given it the best part of a week to conform but it has not done it so far.
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