Hilltops Administrator Wendy Tuckerman.
The Hilltops Council continues to display a preference to advertising information in the Hilltops Phoenix Newsletter over other longer established newspaper publications in the area. The Twin Town Times has been following the matter closely since the proclamation was made establishing the Hilltops Council on May 12 2016. We sent 11 questions to the General Manager of Hilltops Council, Anthony McMahon on August 1 and after not receiving a response sent another email on Monday August 15, seeking to clarify the standpoint of the Council on several matters.
Questions included: 1) Why does the Hilltops Council support the Hilltops Phoenix over the Harden Express and the Young Witness (Fairfax owned) and the independently owned Twin Town Times?…after keeping track of the number of adverts and the sizes placed in all four products since the Hilltops came in to being it seems the Phoenix is heavily favoured over Fairfax and to a further extent the Twin Town Times. 2) Does the Hilltops Council see value for money in a product with no cover price? 2b) Is Hilltops Council aware where the money goes? as the Hilltops Phoenix is not a locally owned business. 2c) Can the Hilltops Council make comment on the size of the print in the full page adverts which some residents find difficult or unable to read? 3) Can the Hilltops Council substantiate the circulation figures of the Hilltops Pheonix and justify the ‘spend’ in the newsletter to ratepayers. 4) Can you please confirm what the cost of the full page advert in the Hilltops Phoenix costs for the 19,000 ratepayers of the Hilltops Shire. 5) Can you confirm the advertising budget for the Hilltops Council for this financial year? 6) Can Administrator Tuckerman explain why she only offers her “From The Hilltops Administrator” column to the Phoenix. (Other questions) 8) Will advisory committee members be bestowed the title of honorary councillors when they have not been democratically elected? 9) Can I have a response regarding the poor quality water which many of the townsfolk of Harden are currently receiving (including myself)?…Can a time frame for remedy be provided? 10) Can the Administrator please comment on Premier Mike Baird’s decision to close the greyhound racing industry?
The response from the General Manager of the Hilltops Council was as follows: “In relation to advertising, the Hilltops Pheonix has been predominantly utilised by Council because it circulates across the Hilltops area and Council has not wanted to pay duplicate advertising costs where avoidable. There have been some instances where advertising has been included in other papers where an issue relating to a specific community has needed to be advertised. In relation to water in Harden we will be circulating a media release this week outlining planned improvement works.”
The answer provided is hardly a detailed response from what is expected of such a large orgainsation. What is the Hilltops Council saying here? It seems that advertisements only appear in media other than the Hilltops Phoenix when it is an “issue relating to a specific community has needed to be advertised” Does this make the full page weekly advert in the Hilltops Phoenix redundant? Why do they advertise in it at all? The new Hilltops Council is meant to be an all inclusive Council for the people of Young, Harden and Boorowa, yet Council are not using traditional forms of media to an extent that those communications are reaching rate payers on all of the issues they face in a newly formed Council. Nor are they willing to answer the hard questions posed to them.
According to the Hilltop Phoenix’s website they send 277 newsletters to the Harden area. Road mail boxes receive 202. Harden IGA 50 and the Carrington Hotel 25. The number of these which are read is anybodies guess. The Phoenix can best be described as an overview of the 3 former shire areas of Harden, Boorowa and Young. It also states on their website that the Hilltops Phoenix is “A free 20 page publication”. This is not correct as they often print 16 page editions in A4. The Harden-Murrumburrah area normally receives 1 or 2 pages of content in the Phoenix. This equates to between half a regular tabloid size newspaper page of information to 1 page of a regular tabloid sized newspaper page. The figures on the Hilltops Phoenix website highlight the fact that the publication is having a far less penetrative impact than the Twin Town Times enjoys in the community.
We sell our very own locally owned and independent newspaper in 14 outlets and the money is spent employing local people. The outlets include: Our office, Harden Newsagency, Harden IGA, Jackson’s Bakery, Harden Fuel Supplies, Caltex Murrumburrah, Pnd Store Murrumburrah, Barnes Store, Binalong Store, Galong Post Office, Wombat Pub, Town Hall Newsagency Young and Young Newsagency, Cootamundra Newsgaency and Jugiong BP. If the Hilltops Council really wanted to engage with the community of Harden Murrumburrah and surrounds they would surely use your local paper more heavily. Not only are they preventing information from going in the local paper to reach you the ratepayer, they are favouring a newsletter based in Canowindra under a company whose mailing address is Noosa in Queensland. Hilltops Administrator Wendy Tuckerman sends the Hilltops Phoenix a weekly column titled “From The Hilltops Administrator” This has never been sent to the Twin Town Times. The Twin Town Times does not receive the Administrators weekly column which seems to be a perfect launching pad for Tuckerman’s burgeoning political career.
In the Hilltops Phoneix edition dated August 4 the Hilltops General Manager appears under the headline “Our Bloke” in a short Q and A. Why then does the Hilltops Council not advertise and communicate through the Twin Town Times? The Hilltops Council favours the Hilltops Phoenix and justifies this favouritism on figures that don’t make sense. The Phoenix sends 277 free newsletters to the Harden-Murrumburrah area and favours rural owners with the publication over those living in the township. The Twin Town Times prints 850 copies a week and are not being used as the main point of information for residents. Instead the Hilltops Council uses an A4 newsletter in an attempt to reach the masses whose own figures fall well short of our circulation figures.
The former Shire area of Harden has 3,700 people in it and 277 copies falls well short of informing the wider community. The residents of the former Harden, Boorowa and Young Shire Councils are not being engaged with through traditional forms of media. They are being bypassed by a new business which isn’t locally owned and has several other sister newsletters under the one company name. They include The Hilltops Phoenix, The Parkes Phoenix, The Forbes Phoenix and the Canowindra Phoenix under Inxcess PTY LTD. Inxcess’s mailing address is NOOSA HEADS QLD 4567. The most obvious reason is also the most disappointing.
Publications such as the Twin Town Times and Young Witness have a tradition of holding the local council to account. We ask the questions that the council doesn’t want asked, like for instance, on water quality. We don’t run puff pieces on the council. We are not the public relations arm of the council. We are the voice of you, the ratepayers and our readers. The obvious conclusion is that publications such as the Twin Town Times are penalised because, at times, we are critical of the council. We’re certainly not about to change, and so, it seems, the council’s advertising spend will continue to be enjoyed by others. You as the ratepayer will continue to be drip fed information by a Council designed to be all enagaing and an improvement on the previous Council. 3 months in and 12 months to go before you vote for your representatives. It’s a long way to go yet!
