Newsagent representation

Here is the full text of a release sent out earlier today from the announcing the departure of CEO Anthony Matis from the Australian Newsagents’ Federation.

Board Expresses Appreciation to Outgoing CEO

The Board of Directors of The Australian Newsagents’ Federation (ANF) has expressed its appreciation to outgoing CEO Anthony Matis for his valued contribution during the past nine months.

Chairman Peter Allpike said Mr Matis has successfully completed the important groundwork in a much needed re-structuring of the newsagency body and has set its steady course for the future.

“In reflection I must say it’s going to be business better than usual.When we appointed Anthony to look at how the ANF could be restructured, we needed a person with a certain set of skills,” Mr Allpike said.

“The organisation needed rationalisation and modernisation and Anthony’s accounting background in mergers and takeovers has proved extremely valuable.

“Anthony is moving on, but I am pleased he has accepted the Board’s offer to remain as a special consultant to the ANF.”

Thanking the Board for their kind words, Mr Matis shunned attention to instead praise loyal ANF staff for the cooperation and hard work they have shown during his time in the role. Further to this Mr Matis thanked State and Federal Governments and senior executives within industry partners.

“I have made friends at the ANF and I have made friends among the many newsagents I have met during this time,” Mr Matis said.

“The staff has been absolutely wonderful and I would like to thank those key people who put in a great effort and had no problems working on weekends when the challenge called.

“The ANF has good people and now has a stronger foundation to better represent its members in the months and years ahead. I believe this industry has an extremely positive future and newsagents who choose to be a part of the National body will be better placed.”

Mr Allpike said Mr Matis was appointed to the CEO role at the ANF at a time the industry faced new challenges.

“We’ve had the NSW Lotteries announcement, News Limited contracts, we have had Collective Bargaining negotiations, and the Small Business Summit among a host of other things and the ANF has done well in a very tough year.

Mr Allpike said part of the restructuring of the ANF was the creation of the position of National General Manager which saw the appointment of Alf Maccioni to the role.

“Alf has filled this role well and has proved to the Board that there needed to be such a position created. Alf has provided good management at Head Office and will continue in this role as the Board of Directors embarks on a robust search for a permanent replacement for Mr Matis.

“A lot has challenged the newsagency channel since the economic downturn and we know in this world there is nothing more certain than change. The ANF has undergone important backroom modifications and is now in a prime position to meet the issues ahead and more importantly to assist newsagents grow, develop and prosper.

“We thank Anthony for his valuable contribution, wish him well and look forward to working with him in the future.”

Since the departure of Paul Waite from the CEO role in 2005, the ANF has had three CEOs.  Given the failure of any CEO to deliver meaningful change to the representation of newsagents, newsagents need to ask if the problem has been the CEOs or the Board.  Sure, the Board has changed, but not as much as it may seem.

Nothing of substance or value to newsagents has been achieved in the last year, despite the list in today’s announcement.  I wonder if this is a reflection of failure of the CEO or failure of the Board.

At the ACP Connections Conference in Cairns last week the ANF Chairman and CEO looked like a unified team.  Much has changed in the last five days.

We will never know because, as the press release shows, the ANF is a master of spin.

Today, once again, newsagents have to ask themselves if the ANF serves any purpose.

I have received calls from three newsagents over the last few days about different issues but with a common factor.  In each case, they contacted their newsagent association and sought guidance on dealing with the serious business issue they faced. In each case, the newsagent association had not got back to them.

These are lost opportunities for the associations involved.  The newsagents have another reason, from the lack of response, to think twice about remaining a member of an association.

Newsagents call associations every day for all sorts of matters.  The challenge is to prioritise each call and ensure that each is responded to in a timely and professional manner.  Had this happened in each of the instances I mention above I would not have received the call.

The associations involved understand the challenges yet prefer to focus their attention on other matters than the core of their operation – customer (member) service.

While I am happy to help any newsagent in need, I would prefer to see associations focused on serving their members on association matters.  The newsagency channel would be healthier for their attention.

It seems that newsagency industry politics is about to get messier with a new split emerging between the ANF, QNF ,NANA and VANA.  All four newsagent associations were actively talking behind closed doors.  It appeared progress was being made.  As the ANF advised newsagents Wednesday, a presentation was made on May 13.  This presentation to the ANF, lead by VANA, was based on a document prepared by VANA – The Way Forward 2009.  Click here for a copy of this document.

While convoluted and unclear, the document was presented to the ANF as a starting point by VANA, NANA and QNF.  The three state associations has reached broad agreement on key elements of the document.

Following the presentation, the ANF undertook to consider the proposal including that ANF Board to resigns and the handing back by the ANF of newsagent members to state associations.  These two points are an agreed requirement of VANA, NANA and QNF.  I have been told this by several people including someone close to the preparation of the document.

My understanding is that if the ANF agreed to these two key points, the states were set to agree and much sought political unity for newsagents would be a big step closer.

The bulletin published by the ANF Wednesday indicates, from my understanding, that agreement on moving forward has not been achieved.  It has been put to me by people involved that the ANF statement does not present all of the facts.

Newsagents want transparent and honest representation on issues that matter to them.  I don’t think they want spin.  Nor do I think they want representation mixed up with commercial activity as this clouds judgement on representation issues.

News Limited last week issued a statement clarifying the status of the ANF and other newsagent associations in terms of the current newspaper distribution contract negotiations:

“Today’s comment in the ANF Newsflash stating “News Ltd has responded to the ANF positively, and for the first time has acknowledged that we are the only body they wish to deal with in these matters” is completely incorrect. News Ltd will be negotiating openly and fairly with all newsagency bodies with regard to the renewal of the News Ltd Territorial & Retail contracts. ” Catherine Woodside, Circulation Director, News Ltd.

The contract negotiations ought to be just that and not used for political point scoring by associations.  It was good of News Limited to issue a clarification.