Abbott fails to convince Hazelwood. Our Hazelwood tipster is back and, after listening to Julia Gillard’s spruik, went along to Tony Abbott’s talk with plant workers. He reports everyone on site was invited to go and about 90% did, but says Abbott’s spiel was more of a blatant “vote for me” speech than Gillard’s. “He urged us to push the unions to tell Gillard we’re not happy with this. He told us he’s a great union man which nearly everyone choked on,” said the tipster. At least Abbott had the floor open for questions, unlike Gillard’s evasive technique the week before. “But at the end of the day everyone walked out and said ‘we don’t trust either of them’,” said our insider.

Optus message to shaken staff. From one of the 250 Optus staff made redundant yesterday, as we flagged ahead of the the announcement, the letter from chief executive Paul O’Sullivan:

From: Paul O’Sullivan — Chief Executive
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 3:04 PM
To: Optus People Everywhere
Subject: Repositioning Optus for the future

Hi team

Today we are taking another step in our transformation journey. In a highly competitive industry it’s important we are efficient and streamlined. Over the past few months we have reviewed our structure, our capability, our systems and processes, and our cost base. As a result of our review we have made some hard decisions — to consolidate roles, reduce headcount and reduce operating expenditure. Today we are announcing the removal of 250 roles from across all areas of the business. This will result in around 180 people leaving the company.

We have spoken today with each of the affected individuals to discuss their situation and any alternative employment opportunities. Redundancies will not be voluntary — they will result from areas where we can flatten our management structure, reduce duplication or streamline the business. To ensure the best personal outcome for those people impacted we have engaged an external provider for counselling and career services.

We have a comprehensive strategy to take us into the future, and we have already delivered a number of major initiatives to prepare us, including the establishment of ODM and release of the first product set including TV Now and Smart Safe. These changes are part of our ongoing transformation to continue our focus on customer experience and support our evolution as a digital services provider. We will communicate more over the coming months on our strategy to enable us to compete in a rapidly changing market and manage growth for the digital future.

Please take time to talk to your manager or HR representative if you have any concerns or questions.

POS

Klaus, Bolt on climate delusion. After hosting Christopher Monckton, the Institute of Public Affairs has brought Czech Republic president Vaclav Klaus to Australia to discuss the “mass delusion of climate change”. After bucking the security check at Parliament House yesterday and standing up 7.30‘s Chris Ulhmann, Klaus will be in Melbourne tomorrow for an address at the Grand Hyatt — MCed by Herald Sun sceptic Andrew Bolt. Crikey understands bookings are slow.

Business squabbles on carbon tax. Ahead of Julia Gillard’s delivery of a carbon tax, the NSW Business Chamber was urging caution. A press release from CEO Stephen Cartwright said: “I recognise the importance of showing leadership on climate change, but I also understand that emissions from Australian industry represent only a minuscule part of global emissions.” Some branches of the chamber weren’t impressed.

From: Peter Sullivan
Sent: Wednesday, 6 July 2011 12:23 PM
To: Eddie Reginato
Cc: Stephen Cartwright; Paul Ritchie
Subject: RE: Media Release: Government must use caution in its decision on Carbon tax

Eddie

This is the sort of crap that the Eastwood Chamber did not want to get involved in and the main reason we did not join NSWBC.

One media release uses emotive language to bag the federal (Labor) government.

The second is positively effusive about the State (Liberal) government.

Cartwright is blatantly political. Because of this, he degrades the voice of the NSWBC.

The businesses of Eastwood need to deal with both sides of politics.

Could you remove me form the mailing list.

Peter Sullivan CPA
Accountant & Business Adviser
Principal
LCD&Co Accounting Services

Blatantly political? The CEO was having none of it, firing back a response:

From: Stephen Cartwright
Sent: Wednesday, 6 July 2011 1:16 PM
To: Peter Sullivan
Cc: Eddie Reginato; Paul Ritchie; Roger Hood; Paul Orton; Mark Stedfut
Subject: RE: Feedback from Eastwood Chamber (Victor Dominello region) FW: Media Release: Government must use caution in its decision on Carbon tax

Hi Peter

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback — it is always greatly appreciated and helps us to clarify how members feel about issues we are grappling with.

From the outset let me make it clear that policy positions put forward by NSWBC are developed via member consultations mechanisms put in place for such purposes. On the carbon tax, for example, this issue has been debated by most regional councils of the Chamber, then debated several times at State Council level, and finally delegated to a Taskforce of the State Council for detailed review and approval. Every statement made by me as CEO of this Chamber on carbon tax has been developed and approved via this member consultation process.

I fully support your right to disagree with positions adopted from time to time by NSWBC, although I strongly disagree that simply withdrawing from the debate is the best way to communicate your viewpoint. I would encourage you to be part of the decision making process, although democracy dictates that you may sometimes have to live with the alternate view of the majority.

Secondly, I completely and utterly reject your assertion that I am, or NSWBC is, blatantly political. On the contrary, this Chamber has always been and remains proudly and fiercely apolitical. Our definition of “apolitical” is that we articulate the views of our members on all issues without fear or favour, and we show absolutely no favouritism when it comes to praising or criticising governments of all political persuasions. Some people in the Chamber movement wrongly believe that being apolitical requires their Chamber to be nice to everyone and to never take a stand on anything, and this seems to be especially true with chambers that receive funding support from their local or state governments. NSWBC is fortunate to have the financial resources to remain fiercely independent, hence it is able to passionately argue, without hesitation, in support of whatever is best for its members.

In relation to our carbon tax press release, we are probably the least provocative of all of the large employer bodies when it comes to commenting on this major change to the operating environment for business in this country. In essence we are accepting that Australia must show leadership on reducing emissions, but we want it managed in a way that doesn’t have a detrimental impact on businesses that are already struggling to cope with increases in energy costs, wages costs and finance costs. Given the relatively small size of our economy, being the first country in the world to impose an economy-wide carbon tax is not smart — we need to work toward a global emissions trading scheme to ensure that Australian companies are not put at a competitive disadvantage to similar companies in other countries, many of whom put more carbon into our atmosphere than we do here (ie closing down our companies will actually make the carbon emission problem worse not better).

I understand that companies such as yours that operate in the services sector are unlikely to feel much initial impact from the proposed new tax, but almost 1 million Australians are employed in our manufacturing sector (with many in western Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra) and the loss of this capability will eventually hurt everyone, even the services sector.

Peter, developing coherent policy positions on behalf our very diverse membership base is not an easy task, and getting complex messages across to governments via the media is even harder, but please rest assured that the NSW Business Chamber is fighting every single day to support businesses like yours, and we will go on doing so because we understand that without a vibrant business sector the entire community suffers.

Again, thanks for your feedback and please do not hesitate to contact me or Eddie should you require further clarification on this matter or any others. I hope you and the Eastwood Chamber choose to remain engaged in the debate, and I would welcome the chance to address your Chamber members on these matters if you are happy to engage with us in an open manner.

Kind regards

Stephen Cartwright
Chief Executive Officer | NSW Business Chamber

And from the grassy knoll… An anonymous tip that speaks for itself. Don’t say we didn’t warn you:

“[Name] is planning to break all the crocodiles out of the major zoos in Australia. He is a local of Newcastle and after watching several nature programs he became aware of the plight of the crocodiles. He informed me of his intention to free the crocodiles last week but I have only found your website recently and so I am only informing you now. He is planning to free the crocodiles next week on Friday. [Name] has decided on this day as the moon will be in what he calls the optimum position.”