On June 27, the Queensland Committee of the ANF, formed by the national body in accordance with its Constitution, resigned. In advising the ANF Board of the decision, the committee members stated:
The members of the Qld Committee of the ANF have unanimously resolved to resign from their positions as an expression of concern at the apparent lack of commitment and progress on the part of the ANF Board of Directors in facilitating a successful merger of the QNF and the ANF in a timely manner.
Further the members of the Qld Committee express their total commitment to having one united national organisation for newsagents and regret that their contribution towards that goal through their participation in the constitutionally structured Qld Committee of the ANF has been unsuccessful.
The members of the Qld Committee further regret that they have been treated as ‘somewhat redundant’ by the ANF Board with no opportunities for consultation or operating as the conduit between the Board and the Individual Members in Queensland in relation to the channeling of information and resources – as set out in 10.6.3 of the Constitution of the ANF.
This decision was taken because of what the Committee saw as a total disregard of democratic, constitutional and transparent processes by the ANF in navigating to creating a unified body to represent newsagents nationally. as the committee stated to the ANF:
The decision to resign as the Qld Committee of the ANF has not been taken lightly or in haste. The remaining members of the Committee have persevered for 4 years (others have walked away earlier) in their endeavors to unite newsagents in Queensland and have made this decision in a desperate attempt to bring the situation to the notice of Qld ANF members and the ANF Board.
Several now former ANF Queensland Committee members have resigned from the ANF and joined the QNF.
Reading the letter from the Committe to the Board of the ANF, it is clear that there has been a clear breakdown of communication. Following the announcement by the ANF of a merger of the ANF and QNF, there has not been further discussion. Indeed, QNF representatives were not invited to the ANF Convention on the Gold Coast – a perfect opportunity to resolve remaining issues and achieve the representational unity newsagents call for. I suspect the ANF is too focused on commercial matters to worry about representational issue.
Queensland has been problematic for the ANF for more than ten years. I have first hand experience. In 2004, the ANF and QNF were one vote away from resolving differences and merging. The Queensland ANF Director interfered 24 hours prior to the meeting which would resolve this and the good work of many individuals over previous months was undone.
It is my view that the personal hatred of a very small group of men in Queensland is the barrier to unity among newsagents.
The Bill Express issue is related to this since it was the QNF which back in 2003 called for caution among newsagents about Bill Express because of concerns about the agreements. Events of recent weeks have found the QNF concerns to be well founded.
No real surprise in this. The ANF are past masters at going back on agreements. I was told that the ANF Board had agreed to the removal of the Bill Express subsidies in a meeting Bill Express had with them in January this year. The only request the ANF Board had was that Bill Express stagger the removal across a few months.
I AM IN QUEENSLAND ,WHAT GROUP SHOULD I JOIN ,ARE THE ANF AND QNF STILL MERGING .WHAT OPTIONS ARE OUT THERE .I AM WITH THE ANF AT THE MOMENT WELL UNTILL I HAVE TO PAY MY FEE AGAIN ANYWAY . MARK I THINK YOU SHOULD START UP YOUR OWN ACCOCIATION ,I WILL JOIN STRAIGHT AWAY .I DON’T THINK ANY OF THESE GROUPS HAVE DONE A GREAT DEAL FOR NEWSAGENTS OVER THE YEARS .
Sorry all it should have been ASSOCIATION
calm down shaun or you’ll pop a vein – even typing in lower case might ease your blood pressure
Julian what are you on about ??Sorry Julian if my typing is not up to your standard .
I accept your apology
Sorry Mark
I think it is a long bow to state that the present Qld association is the barrier to the benefit of all Newsagents.
Form my belief, it is not/was not the act of any current Borad member of the QNF but the relic of a prevu\ious QNF/ANF Director who used this position to satisfy his own ego.
From what I have gleened, there has been a lot of forgone rubbish to try and satisfy the unreasonable requirements placed upon it to again unify Newsagents but to place the blame upon Qld is incorrect when it was in Victoria when this whole rubbish began years ago regarding “deregulation” etc and the “capitulation” has a buck-shot blame.
So Julian do you have any answers to my questions or do you just scan blogs just for the fun in it ?
Newsagents don’t need the ANF.