Limitations regarding the use of quotes
The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
This was an appeal by the tobacco companies from an earlier decision upholding the decision of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal that commercial television licensees had breached s100(5A) of the Broadcasting and Television Act 1942 (Cth) (see: Re Benson and Hedges Company Pty Limited; Rothmans of Pall Mall (Australia) Limited & Ors v the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal [1984] FCA 292 (10 October 1984)). Section 100(5A) prohibited a licensee from broadcasting or televising smoking, cigarette or cigarette tobacco advertisements. (Note: the Broadcasting and Television Act has since been repealed).
The Tribunal had decided that four licensees had breached s100 (5A) by broadcasting tobacco advertisements, relevantly: an advertisement for Redhead Matches ("Strike Up a Friendship") which concerned the use of matches to light cigarettes; a Benson & Hedges Cricket ("Field of Battle") advertisement; an advertisement for The Australian Ballet, sponsored by Benson & Hedges; an advertisement for the film "Aussie Assault" which featured the "Winfield" name; and a broadcast of the 1982 Rugby League Grand Final, which showed billboards with "Anyhow have a Winfield 25s ..." in the background.
The applicant companies applied to the Court for judicial review of the Tribunal's decision. Fox J, at first instance, dismissed the application (apart from one part of one of the advertisements). In this decision, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed the companies' appeal with costs.