Notice on behalf of Chief Justice Spigelman AC,Thursday, 1st March 2007

01/03/2007

The following announcement has been posted on behalf of the chief justice of New South Wales, the Hon J J Spigelman AC.

On 1 March 2007 the _Sydney Morning Herald _published a front page story: 'Revealed; cable to PM on Balibo massacre'.

In the final sentence, under the headline 'Massacre cable went to Whitlam', Hamish McDonald's article reads: 'Mr Whitlam could not be reached for comment, nor his then private secretary, Jim Spigelman, now chief justice of NSW.'

In fact, the chief justice was no longer on Mr Whitlam's staff on 17 October 1975.

The chief justice has requested that the Sydney Morning Herald:

>> publish a correction with an appropriate headline;

>> admit, in the published correction, the newspaper's mistakes in:

a) not checking the public record; and b) failing to publish the correct information once informed by the chief justice's staff; and

>> remove, as a matter of urgency, the mistaken reference to Chief Justice Spigelman in all on-line stories relating to this.