The Daily Examiner presence in the Clarence Valley further diminished

 

In 2016 the Australian Consumer Competition Commission (ACCC) gave the nod to U.S. based News Corp’s purchase of Australian Regional Media (ARM) from APN News & Media.

The Daily Examiner print newspaper and news website were part of that purchase.

On 27 June 2020 after 161 years of continuous editions, The Daily Examiner was printed and distributed for the last time, as more than 100 regional newspapers were sent digital by the new owner of ARM.

The masthead’s paywalled website remained as www.dailyexaminer.com.au.

However, recently 'rationalisation'  has seen this masthead website disappear and all traffic now redirected to https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/grafton.

This redirection to The Daily Telegraph is occurring across many NSW & Qld regional news websites held by News Corp.

In 2019-20 News Corp reported global losses of US$1.5bn with total revenue falling by 11 per cent, while Australian revenue showed a 16 per cent decline. 

Last year News Corp shed a total of 875 editorial, journalist, photographer and designer positions across its Australian print and digital news outlets.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian slammed for slashing at least 28 TAFE jobs in Northern Rivers region

 

Office of the NSW Labor Member for Lismore, media release, 22 February 2021:

LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin has condemned the axing of up to 28 TAFE NSW jobs on the Northern Rivers as a betrayal by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who gave an iron-clad promise in 2019 that there would be no public service job cuts in regional and rural New South Wales.

 

“Deputy Premier John Barilaro and his Nationals are just as responsible here too; not lifting a finger as the Liberals continue with their deliberate actions in dismantling TAFE,” Ms Saffin said.

 

“How many cuts can our TAFE system take before it is completely decimated?”

 

TAFE NSW late last week advised the Community Public Sector Union of NSW that the Berijiklian-Barilaro Government is slashing almost 700 frontline TAFE NSW jobs, including 470 regional jobs.

 

“Figures provided to me by the CPSU-NSW show that we are looking at up to 28 local jobs going under two major restructures – in educational support and in student services, facilities management and logistics,” Ms Saffin said.

 

“In our Electorate of Lismore, six positions could be cut at the Lismore campus and one at the Murwillumbah Connected Learning Centre.

 

“In the neighbouring Electorate of Tweed, Kingscliff TAFE will be hardest hit with the Government targeting 12 positions, and in the Ballina Electorate, eight positions at Wollongbar TAFE and one position at Ballina TAFE are under threat.

 

“I will stand with the TAFE staff and their union, and with TAFE students, to fight these cruel job cuts because local communities cannot afford to see their TAFE campuses run down as the NSW Liberal-Nationals pursue their privatisation push, at the expense of local jobs and economy.

 

“Enough is enough.”

ABBOTT'S AUSTRALIA: Is a public service fire sale on its way?

The Canberra Times 20 January 2015:

Tens of thousands more Australian  public service jobs are to be sized-up for potential privatisation as the Abbott government begins work on its "contestability program".

One public sector expert has warned the program is the beginning of a "slow bleed" of the federal bureaucracy that could ultimately see more than 30,000 Commonwealth government jobs lost in the coming years.

The Finance Department has confirmed that  "portfolio stocktakes" are underway with government departments being assessed to see if their work can be farmed-out to either the private sector or the  commonwealth's growing  "shared services" operation.

Departmental bosses will also be ordered to replace their public servants with technology wherever they can and ICON, the high-tech secure communication network linking government departments in Canberra is also being scoped for sale…..

The government has already shown it will not shy away from privatisations with scoping studies for sell-offs of the Australian Mint, Defence Housing Australia, Australian Hearing Services and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission registry already underway.

Medicare, Centrelink and some Veterans Affairs payment services may be taken over by private players and the Finance Department is also looking at the sale of ICON, the point-to-point fibre connection system that links 80 government agencies at 400 sites around Canberra.

Giving BOF a biff on behalf of the Clarence Valley

 

It wasn’t only the Queensland Premier who came under fire when Australian House of Representatives MPs spoke to a motion by the Member for Capricornia.

 

Here is Federal Labor’s Janelle Saffin in Hansard on 26 November 2012:

 

Ms SAFFIN (Page) (11:40): In listening to the honourable member for Flynn speaking—can I say I like the honourable member for Flynn and he seems like a good fellow—how can it be a good idea to cut jobs in your own electorates? It is never a good idea no matter who does it. People can claim all sorts of mandates, but the fact is there is no mandate for the Queensland Premier to do it. I am speaking in support of this motion for a number of reasons. I live in New South Wales, not in Queensland. I live in the Northern Rivers.

Mr Neumann: She comes from Ipswich.

Ms SAFFIN: Yes, I grew up in Ipswich as the honourable member for Blair said. I am in an area where I see all this happening just over the border. I have been watching all the things that Premier Campbell Newman has been doing by taking the axe to the public service, to services, to the community and to projects and programs that matter in the community. What can matter more than recreational fishing? Recreational fishing is huge Australia-wide. It is huge in my seat of Page. We have recreational fishers everywhere. Even if you were not able to make a decision on policy grounds, why would you go and put the axe through recreational fishing programs on political grounds alone? Equally, it is also an industry. It is a huge industry with a huge economic base in regional areas. That is an important point to focus on and remember. By cutting their programs, cutting money to them, it has an impact at a regional economic level and it does not make sense to do it.

In watching what is going on in Queensland, some of it was going on in New South Wales with Premier O'Farrell. But Premier Newman seems to have emboldened Premier O'Farrell even more. He has taken the axe to programs left, right and centre. Anything that is not bolted down is up for the axe. In my area alone we have had the issue of Grafton jail. It was to close and then they wound it down and nearly 100 jobs would go. Jobs are going in TAFE. There are billions of dollars going out of TAFE.

Honourable members interjecting—

Ms SAFFIN: Well, there is a jail and it provides a lot of jobs to local people. You cannot replicate those jobs easily and they have gone. There is the whole spin-off effect in the local area. Also the slasher is going through TAFE.

Government members interjecting—

Ms SAFFIN: It is a shame. People can say, 'We want smaller government.' But this is ridiculous. These are front line people who deliver services. The ambos have been affected too as well as the firies.

Honourable members interjecting—

Ms SAFFIN: Yes, the rural fire brigade as well as the fire service are all being affected. On Friday night in Lismore I opened a fine art exhibition at Lismore TAFE which was called 'Last Draw'. It was actually the last of its kind because the program that they run is also being axed. There were over 100 students there and some of them were from a whole range of backgrounds, and a lot of them end up with work. We have a huge creative industry in my area. It is an industry in its own right and it provides enormous economic benefits to the community. It is really short-sighted to put the axe through programs like this. There were over 100 students there from a whole range of diverse backgrounds. It has given some of them a whole new life. Some of them were in recovery. They have done this course. It has given them a place to belong; it has also given them skills that they can go out into the community and earn money with.

When I look at what is happening to recreational fishing in Queensland I look with alarm, and I realise what it has done to Sunfish Queensland Inc. I have read all of their statements and they say:

The Queensland Government fully supports recreational fishing in Queensland.

Then why is its first act to cut funding to voluntary community recreational projects?

[my red bolding]

POLITICIANS UNDERWHELMED BY TELSTRA CEO THODEY'S 'CORPORATE SPEAK'

 

 

 

Politicians underwhelmed by Telstra CEO’s ‘corporate speak’

 

LISMORE’S political leaders have been left ‘underwhelmed’ by Telstra CEO David Thodey’s ‘corporate speak’ response to their call for the telco to make a $3.4-million investment in digital infrastructure to compensate for the impending Goonellabah Call Centre closure.

 

Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin, State Member for Lismore Thomas George and Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny have adopted a bipartisan approach to negotiating with Telstra management on getting the best outcomes for 116 affected local staff and for the district’s economy.

 

“David Thodey is not offering anything extra to the Lismore district and we are disappointed but not surprised given the ease with which he can change the lives of more than 100 local people so dramatically,” the politicians said in a joint statement.

 

“We had approached Mr Thodey in good faith and were hopeful that our request, based on a detailed consultant’s study which identified gaps in telecommunications infrastructure in the Lismore area, would be given serious consideration,” they said.

 

“We asked Telstra to make a significant additional investment in new fixed and wireless networks and in retraining for affected workers, but Mr Thodey maintained that planned infrastructure upgrades will provide customers with enough coverage and that redundancy packages are adequate.

 

“We asked for a partnership between Telstra and Lismore City Council to run a two-year program to increase the use of broadband by local businesses, but Mr Thodey referred us to NBN Co and the Australian Government’s general educational programs.

 

“The only concessions from Telstra are its sponsorship of a jobs market which was already taking place at the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre next Friday (October 19) and an agreement to consider allowing equipment in the call centre to be reused by another business if a new tenant can be found for the site.

 

“We have decided to release to regional media outlets all correspondence around our request to Mr Thodey for a digital infrastructure investment, so that the local community can get a clear indication of this corporation’s level of commitment to the regional city of Lismore.”

 

Thursday, October 11, 2012.

 

Saffin, George and Dowell see Lismore Jobs Market as offering a lifeline to soon to be sacked Telstra staff

 

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE FROM JANELLE SAFFIN MP, THOMAS GEORGE MP AND CR JENNY DOWELL

 

Jobs Market offers a lifeline to Telstra staff

 

LISMORE’S political representatives are calling on all district employers to showcase job vacancies at a Jobs Market on Friday October 19, aimed at keeping Telstra Goonellabah Call Centre’s 116 staff working locally.

 

Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin, State Member for Lismore Thomas George and Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny Dowell hope the Telstra Lismore Jobs Market at the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre may offer a lifeline to affected staff.

 

The event will be sponsored by Telstra in association with the Australian Government’s Building Australia’s Future Workforce Program, NSW Trade & Investment and Lismore City Council.

 

Telstra Area General Manager North Coast NSW Sue Passmore said: “We are supporting the jobs market in Lismore and will be doing what we can to make it a successful and productive day for our people, as well as other local residents and businesses.”

 

In a joint statement, Ms Saffin, Mr George and Cr Dowell said: “We are still reeling from the impending loss of the Call Centre jobs, but it’s important for our community to rally around and help these workers so they don’t have to leave our area. We need to show we care for these workers and do all we can for them and their families.”

 

“This is a highly skilled workforce, and we believed they needed to meet face-to-face with potential employers about real job opportunities close to home, before the Call Centre is due to close its doors on Tuesday October 23,” they said.

 

“The Jobs Market allows employers to hand out information about their businesses, collect resumes, and potentially even shortlist candidates to interview. Employers who cannot attend the Jobs Market can still post details of vacancies on the Telstra Lismore Jobs Board.”

 

To register as an exhibitor at the Telstra Lismore Jobs Market, employers should phone the event hotline on 0266 863 972 or visit www.telstralismorejobsmarket.com.au  Participation is free for exhibitors and attendees. Telstra employees will attend the Jobs Market in the morning and the afternoon session will be open to all local job seekers.

 

Telstra CEO gets a no nonsense letter from Saffin, George and Dowell over Lismore job losses

PARLIAMENT OF AUSTRALIA

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Friday, August 24, 2012.

REF: PE.24.08.12.

Mr David Thodey

Chief Executive Officer

Telstra Corporation Limited

Level 40, 242 Exhibition Street

MELBOURNE  VIC  3000.

Dear Mr Thodey,

We write as the Federal, State and local representatives for the Lismore district to formally request that you intervene and reverse Telstra’s ‘business decision’ to close its Goonellabah Call Centre on October 23 this year.

We maintain that the loss of an estimated 116 local jobs from such a closure is not only unnecessary but unacceptable, particularly when Telstra’s digital business streams are reported to be enjoying strong growth.

We seek a full explanation from you; the real reasons which led Telstra’s management team to arrive at such a cruel decision despite earlier public assurances that this particular call centre was safe.

This morning, we stood united on Lismore’s main street – Molesworth Street – to launch a community petition calling on you to intervene immediately to halt any plan to axe your highly skilled and loyal workforce in Goonellabah.

The petition further objects to Telstra abandoning its workforce in country Australia and moving jobs offshore, while recording massive profits ($3.4 billion) and awarding generous salary increases for executives.

Surely, there is a better and more respectful way to treat your Lismore staff, most of whom have to service mortgages or other financial commitments and whose families have strong ties to this community.

During this three-week consultation period regarding the closure decision, we stand ready to negotiate with yourself or your appointed executives on alternative proposals for keeping the call centre operational and profitable for Telstra.

We ask that due to the doubt and uncertainty which employees are feeling about their futures, that Telstra executives travelling to Lismore not intimidate or dissuade staff from seeking advice from CPSU officials.

We seek Telstra’s full co-operation in providing a Rapid Response Team of Federal and State agencies with immediate and unfettered access to the call centre to advise staff on various levels of support available to them.

We provide two points of contact for the Rapid Response Team being put in place:

Mr Terry Watson, Local Employment Coordinator, Richmond-Tweed & Clarence Valley Priority Area, Building Australia’s Future Workforce – 0412 320 077; email terry.watson@deewr.gov.au

Mr Craig Jenkins, Business Development Manager, NSW Trade & Investment – 0411 248 482 or 0266 226 145; email craig.jenkins@business.nsw.gov.au

Mr Watson and Mr Jenkins are experienced public servants who liaised with Telstra during the Grafton Call Centre closure in late 2010.

We are also of the firm belief that two or three weeks is not enough time for staff, who are grieving the potential loss of their livelihoods through redundancy or the upheaval of transfers, to cope with such transition.

Consequently, we ask that the consultation period be extended, in good faith, to several months to allow for a proper, more transparent analysis of all options for keeping these jobs in the Lismore district.

We understand that you have a business to run, but we are appealing to your corporate conscience to do the right thing by your staff and customers here on the Northern Rivers and avoid the kind of public relations disaster which accompanied your withdrawal from Grafton.

Yours sincerely,

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

Thomas George MP

State Member for Lismore.

Cr Jenny Dowell

Mayor of Lismore City Council.

Northern Rivers Social Development Council launches survey on the impact of Tesltra closure

Northern Rivers Social Development Council invitation to residents and businesses: Please complete the Northern Rivers Social Development Council telecommunications survey. This survey has been prompted by Telstra’s decision to close the Goonellabah call centre. This closure comes on the back of the recent closure of Telstra’s Grafton call centre. Information gathered from the survey will be used to help inform the debate around the future of Telstra in the Northern Rivers; and to help our community to lobby for the jobs to stay in the region; and to come up with other solutions. We need as many people, businesses and organisations to fill this survey out as possible. Please complete the survey and forward the survey link to other people and organisations within the region. Participation in the survey will take no more than 5 minutes and is confidential. The survey can be accessed via the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SP7KB6X We want to find out how much income Telstra earns from business and individuals in our region; whether these customers are concerned by Telstra’s decision to close the Goonellabah call centre; if so, are they considering a shift to another provider; and whether there are issues, concerns or barriers that prevent people from changing providers. We are also interested in seeing whether there is a critical mass of people and organisations that are willing to back a local provider. There is a strong link between economic opportunity, jobs and community wellbeing across our region. NRSDC has become increasingly concerned about the impact on our region of the withdrawal of major employers, both in government and the private sector, from our towns and cities. We believe that it is important for organisations that earn significant income from our region contribute back to the community. We also need to ensure that proper support is provided to manage the long term social impact of these job cuts.

More jobs to go - this time at Lismore

9 News on 21st August 2012:

“Telstra's decision to axe jobs at its customer service centre in Lismore is devastating, the city's mayor says….

Ms Dowell said she had been personally assured that jobs in her city were safe after Telstra closed its Grafton call centre in 2011.

Most Lismore locals would know someone affected by the job losses, she said.

"I understand that at this call centre there are couples, a husband and wife who will both lose their jobs," she said.

"The ripple effect of this is huge."

So far Nats MP for Lismore Thomas George is keeping mum on the subject of 116 local jobs being flushed down the drain by a telco whose "net income climbed to $3.41 billion in the year to June 30".

The NSW North Coast's Greatest Underachiever

It's enough to make a grown man cry.
With the Clarence Valley reeling from the effects of public service jobs cuts and more to come - our fearless representative in the O'Farrell Coalition Government, Clarence MP Hapless Gulaptis is "fighting" for us all.
How's this not-so-bonza block doing this in the two months to more public service jobs deadline he and his leader set themselves?
Why in the last month he has penned two letters and grabbed a few minutes with Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner in a corridor somewhere in Sydney.
"Mr Gulaptis said he had written two letters to the Minister for Corrective Services and had spoken with his boss, Mr Stoner, outside the committee meeting entrusted with bringing 108 jobs back to Grafton." {The Daily Examiner 18th August 2012}
Bluidy pathetic!

Tweeting Barry O'Farrell

no_filter_Yamba ‏@no_filter_Yamba

Please explain why names all NSW Cabinet ministers freely available but not names ministers who sit on Cabinet sub-committees@barryofarrell

This is one tweet NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is sure to ignore, given it comes from Clarence Valley in the NSW state electorate of Clarence.

An electorate O'Farrell is attempting to keep in the dark about ongoing public service job cuts and, won't tell the media who is sitting on a committee which is allegedly looking to remedy this dismal situation as it plays out in Grafton.

Before everyone starts yelling Carbonageddon - here's what Caltex told the Australian Stock Exchange on 26th July 2012

Full transcript of Caltex Australia Ltd announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange heralding the excising of around 430 jobs in a Kurnell refinery restructuring package meant to stem ongoing financial losses.

Snapshot taken 26^th July 2012:

Silly secrecy bedevils NSW Nationals

When it comes to the O’Farrell-Stoner Government’s alleged plans to replace jobs lost by its sudden and arbitrary closure of Grafton Gaol this month, this item has to be the height of absurdity.

In The Daily Examiner 21 July 2012:

A spokesman from Mr Stoner's office said yesterday a weekly tally of the sub-committee's progress would not be available, but The Examiner assured the media adviser we'd be seeking updates anyway.

He said the rural and regional sub-committee met regularly and would report back to cabinet within eight weeks.

He did not reply to a request for a full list of members of the sub-committee, but The Examiner will seek this information next week.

What? Clarence Valley voters are not supposed to notice that, besides the NSW Cabinet Sub-Committee on Rural and Regional NSW being chaired by Deputy-Premier and Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner, there are also other government ministers involved?

It doesn't take a genius to work out that the Minister for Local Government and the North Coast, Nationals MP Don Page, is one of those likely to be on this sub-committee - and that having his electoral office at Ballina means he is in easy reach of irate Valley residents should any want to give him the benefit of their pithy personal opinions on the O'Farrell Government's recent cost cutting at their expense.

Update from The Daily Examiner on 24 July 2012 demonstrating the ridiculous position taken by the O'Farrell Government in that a full list of NSW Cabinet ministers is freely available to voters and the media, but the names of ministers sitting on specific cabinet sub-committees are a closely guarded state secret - even though identical confidentiality provisions apply to both Cabinet and its sub-committees:

THE Clarence Valley has been stonewalled by Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner's office which has refused to detail the membership, agenda or meeting schedule of the committee tasked to find new Grafton jobs (within the next seven weeks) following the jail downgrade.
A spokesman for the NSW Nationals leader confirmed his boss chaired the Rural and Regional Sub-Committee but he would not reveal other members because "the sub-committee reports to Cabinet, and as such the matters it discusses are confidential".
"Cabinet confidentiality is a long-standing and fundamental principle of Westminster Government, and just like other jurisdictions, NSW does not publish information regarding Cabinet agendas, discussions, meeting times etc," he said.
"Having said that, the Government is ultimately accountable to the voting public and should be judged on its results.
"Of course, in this instance, the output of the Cabinet and Cabinet sub-committee process will be announced publicly, at which time the Government will fully respond to detailed questions."

Clarence Valley less than impressed by Stoner's jobs announcement

The NSW Nats just can’t take a trick since they failed to support an electorate which made the mistake of voting for one of their candidates.

The Daily Examiner Editor Jenna Cairney on the 21^st July 2012:

"YESTERDAY'S news of supposed new jobs was greeted with a wave of valid criticism from readers.

In the next seven weeks (one week is already up) I predict we'll be faced with a wave of creative accounting, press releases, spin and nonsense as the NSW Government tries to silence the courageous and dissatisfied people of the Clarence Valley.

Apart from the fact it seems the 30 jobs were already planned as part of the Pacific Hwy upgrade, the fact is the temporary positions do little for the long term and even less for the families of the jail workers.”

In June 2012 the NSW unemployment rate was 5.1%. Because Clarence Valley’s unemployment rate is usually 1 to 2% higher than the state rate, depending on where in the valley you live (youth unemployment is much higher and in double digits), many locals were also less than impressed with this jobs announcement.

Here are just a few quotes from the online comments:

"A state government listening to us"? These thirty jobs have not changed my view of how O'Farrell & Stoner handled the Grafton gaol affair. The 30 jobs on offer are in the thimble and pea group, that are there for a while and then just disappear.”

“This announcement is cheap government propaganda... the decimation of the public service in regional NSW is not over yet... don't forget Sydney is the centre of the universe and all services need to be within a comfortable 2 hours of this mecca. Bring on the election!”

“The Nationals scrambling to save face and trying to disprove the idea that a vote for the Nationals is a wasted vote. Not convinced.”

“These future jobs with the RMS are all very well to be bandied around with such spin; they probably were already in the pipeline pre the prison job cutbacks. However, how many displaced prison employees can fill the criteria for being a project manager, surveillance officer or engineer?”

“This piece of news from Stoner really is an insult to the intelligence of all those who call the Clarence Valley home.”

NSW Nats continue to blame others for Grafton Gaol closure

 

"The public service has shown it can't be relied on to have the community's interests at heart"; cries former Vice-Chairman of the NSW National Party and current Grafton Chamber of Commerce president Jeremy Challacombe in The Daily Examiner on the 17th July 2012.
Barely 5 days after the NSW Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government acted on its own executive decision and removed prisoners from Grafton Gaol leaving only a 60-bed remand facility to serve prisoners being held for local court appearances.
Suddenly Barry O'Farrell, Andrew Stoner, Greg Hunt and Chris Gulaptis’ sly betrayal of the Clarence Valley community didn’t happen.
Now it’s all the fault of the 107 people who lost their jobs when the last of the prison transport vans rolled out of Grafton and on to Cessnock.
The Nats are proving once again that they are nothing but a political nest for gutless rodents vipers idiots fools men of uncertain moral fibre and weak intelligence.

Clarence Valley calls on local MP, Chris Gulaptis, to stand up for Grafton

• The O'Farrell Government is going to cut 103 jobs, including 11 nursing positions from Grafton Gaol.
• The Clarence Valley Community is calling for local MP, Chris Gulaptis, to stop the cuts or stand aside and let someone else be a true representative of the community.
• A Community rally will be held in Grafton on Thursday at 12.15pm at Memorial Park, near the rowing sheds.

When Chris Gulaptis was elected he said the gaol was safe, and he promised that he’d never let us down.