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arrived unanimously at the opposite Remember, this is the Innisfail The extent of that implied outcome. The law in NSW, of course, Advocate we are talking about, not The constitutional protection is extremely was not the same as that in Morning Herald. qualified. Nevertheless, the thinking Queensland. And the defamatory material in behind it may well have been a silent influence on the w ay the court saw But that is not the point. The issue is question was a small advertisement, the contending interests. the procedure used by the court to not a painstaking expose on public balance the competing interests. finances in another country. This approach may also have been influenced by recent criticism from In 1988, the rights of defamed Filipino All of this, however, was not a legal academics Stephanie Palmer and businessman Eduardo Cojuangco statement of legal principle and may Ian Cram. In separate articles in 1992, were so important that the court lead to nothing. But it does raise the they stated that English courts actually saw them as part of the tantalising possibility that the High generally give the free flow of public interest in the administration Court may be changing the way it information insufficient weight of justice. balances the contending interests in whenever it is part of a judicial Such a grand description obviously cases involving free speech. balance. weighed heavily in the judicial The balance between individual balance, so heavily that it was By definition, the harm caused to the reputation and the broader interest of considered to be "paramount". public interest by restrictions on the the community in free speech could be flow of information cannot be This outweighed the interests of the undergoing adjustment — in favour of quantified. public in free speech, which was read the community. down in that case to focus merely on This intangible benefit is therefore The final answer will have to wait until the interests of the defendant news­ easily outweighed when compared to the judges consider this question paper, The Sydney Morning Herald, the competing interests of justice - and its journalist, the late Peter directly and are thereby required to more accurately described as the rights Hastings. make a statement of legal principle that of competing litigants - which take would then become binding on all other tangible form in particular cases. But in Pervan, it was the defendant courts. newspaper that benefited from the Despite all this, it is still too soon to judicial eloquence. Its interests were So what's behind the change? Between uncork the champagne. The lone aligned with freedom of discussion, 1988 and now, the High Court decided dissent in Pervan was by Justice which was "one of the essential that the right to free speech was so McHugh. In this area of law, he is elements which go to make up our important that it was an implied part of widely considered to be the court's freedom of speech". the Constitution. leading authority. (Reprinted by kind permission of Financial Review )

INSIDE THIS ISSUE WORLD ASSOCIATION * Freedom of Speech Eaeotif aged 1 Chris Merritt looks at a recent High Court decision OF PRESS COUNCILS * The Weekly Times -12 5 Tte&rs Old 3 The first regional Conference of the W APC is to be held in Kathmandu, The Weekly Times' editor looks at m Important anniversary Nepal from 7-9 February 1994. The * The Human Tissue Act 3 W APC was formed in 1993 at the The implications for journalists discussed Third International Conference of Press Councils in New Delhi. » Press Council News 4 The Council's Chairman, Prof David * The tWL Too Wants Pefamation Reform fi Flint, who is also the Chairman of the David Flint looks at recent US attempts at law reform WAPC Executive Council, will * An Edited tetter to the Editor 7 represent the Council at the Editing that the Press Council found changed a letter's meaning conference. A full meeting of the WAPC is * Professional Practice Policy 8 expected to be held in Sri Lanka in The Herald and Weekly Times' guide to press ethics 1995. * Press Council Adjudications: November & January 11 There will be a report on the conference in the next issue of the * About the Press Council W News.