The judgement issued last week in the Industrial Court of NSW in the matter of Newsagents Association of NSW and ACT Ltd v John Fairfax Publications Pty Limited [2006] NSWIRComm 409 has been published. This judgment confirms what I blogged on Dec. 28 – that the parties (NANA, the newsagent and Fairfax) are to participate in mediation to find a solution.
This case is significant for newsagents as it places before a court matters relating to the deregulation of the distribution of newspapers in NSW in 1999/2000. While the judgment is heavy going in parts, I am sure newsagents will find it fascinating reading. Newsagents will also be please to see the NSW Association (NANA) fighting in court on behalf of newsagents.
What is really playing out in this case is how to handle (or not handle) the consolidation of the 150 year old newspaper distribution network of newsagents.
Unlike chemists, farmers and auto workers, newsagents have been cast adrift by the Government. It ignited the deregulation bushfire and left newsagents to defend their family assets alone. Newsagents have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in their businesses in the form of goodwill. Publishers have a need to reach more customers for a lower cost and with more control. When the needs are mutually exclusive, the publisher can take the business and walk and this is where a question of goodwill and compensation comes into play.
While skirmishes such as that currently before the Industrial Court of NSW will break out occasionally, it is not until those who created the current situation revisit and investigate the ramifications of what they started that newsagent families can hope for a fair and equitable resolution of the matter. This means the Government, the ACCC, publishers and newsagents talking through what six years of deregulation has meant for the country and newspaper stakeholders.