The Well News - May97 9/12/99 4:18 PM Page 2
TheWell
THE NEWSLETTER OF JACKSON WELLS COMMUNICATIONS ISSUE 17 MAY 1997
EXPANSION:
JWC to establish
Canberra bureau
Jackson Wells is to open an office in
Canberra before the end of 1997 as
the company seeks to broaden and
strengthen its government relations
activities at the Federal level.
Initially, the Canberra presence
will be provided by a consultant
transferred temporarily from the
Sydney office but, within six months,
a full-time Canberra manager will be
recruited.
JWC managing director, Keith
Jackson, said the company already
had strong relationships with
Canberra but it needed to build on
these by establishing a permanent
capacity in the national capital.
We already have a number of
projects that are Canberra-based and
some clients have urged us to
establish ourselves there.
Until recently, we never felt the
timing was quite right; but the
direction of business growth over the
last 12 months and especially the
increased amount of government
relations work in Canberra
encouraged us to make this decision.
It is likely that the Canberra bureau
will open in August with a senior
consultant from Sydney in charge.
JWC also has an office in Brisbane
and an affiliate in Adelaide.
MONTHS HIGHLIGHTS
JWC employee share scheme put in place
Light rail EIS approved by NSW Cabinet
Decision to establish Canberra office
5TH
ANNIVERSARY
ISSUE
STAFF: relevant courses at university.
The share scheme represents a real
Company offers shift within the company to enable
staff to participate directly in the fruits
stake to staff of their labour and the overall success
of the company, which has shown a
In its first significant restructuring profit every year since inception.
since being established five years Jackson Wells made a profit of over
ago, Jackson Wells Communications $300,000 in 1995-96 and is expecting
has decided to initiate an employee a better result for 1996-97.
share scheme.
Under the scheme, 400,000 $1 WELLS HAWAIIAN STYLE
shares can be issued to participating Ingrid and Ben Jackson came
staff in consideration for an annual upon these wells on a recent trip
dividend equal to 20% of the to Hawaii. Unfortunately, they
were too large to bring back to
companys net profit.
Australia for our collection.
The share scheme is just
the latest in a number of
innovative ideas we have
adopted to help us recruit
and retain top people.
Executive chairman John Wells said
the purpose of the scheme was
to encourage broader employee
participation in the affairs of the
company and to encourage staff
to contribute to the continuing
effectiveness and success of Jackson
Wells.
The share scheme is just the latest
in a number of innovative ideas we
have adopted to help us recruit and
retain top people, he said.
We provide a high salary ratio, new
client bonuses and full reimburse-
ments to consultants studying
IN THIS ISSUE
Kathy Lindsay to open Bangkok office
Docker Foundation inaugurated
Inside: Trevor Cooks Employee.com
The Well News - May97 9/12/99 4:18 PM Page 3
2 THE WELL MAY 1997
OVERSEAS:
Kathy Lindsay to
provide Bangkok
representation
Jackson Wells will establish its first
representative office in South-East
Asia from July when Kathy Lindsay,
former senior consultant in Sydney,
transfers to Bangkok.
Kathy will spend two years in
Thailand with journalist husband,
Peter Alford, who has been assigned
there by his newspaper, The
Australian.
Kathy Lindsay and husband Peter Alford
before their departure to Bangkok
Kathy has agreed to operate under
the Jackson Wells banner in
Thailand. She will deal with JWC
affairs in South East Asia and seek
business referrals from companies in
the region wanting communications
assistance in Australia.
JWC established its first Asian
affiliate relationship late last year
with the Hong Kong-based
Combined Communications
Consultancy. Discussions are
continuing with a Tokyo company
as we seek to secure a Japanese
affiliate.
Our other overseas affiliates are
Bankside Consulting (London), PR
Consulting Group (New York and
Los Angeles) and Moale Rivu &
Associates (Port Moresby).
MATES:
Trust in the
memory of
Tom Docker
Jackson Wells has inaugurated
the Docker Fellowship to
commemorate the life and work of
former principal consultant Tom
Docker who died last July after a
long illness.
Allocations made under the
fellowship will enable promising
Australian public relations people to
study the profession overseas or an
overseas practitioner to study in
Australia.
Each year, the company will set
aside $5,000 to fund the fellowship.
Fellowship recipients will be
decided by the company. While
fellows need not be a staffer or
affiliate of Jackson Wells, in many
cases they will be.
The fellowship need not be
awarded in any given year, but the
capital will be augmented by an
amount of $5,000, adjusted for
inflation.
The company will make a special
provision for Toms sons, Thomas
and Oliver, to make a travelling
fellowship available to each of them
when they finish high school or at
some other appropriate time.
POLITICS:
Minister Sharp
has rail industry
for dinner
Federal Minister for Transport
and Regional Development, John
Sharp, was guest of honour and
principal speaker at a dinner held
for rail industry chiefs in Sydney
early May.
The dinner was organised by
Jackson Wells for Network Rail
magazine, published by us, and our
client, the Australasian Railway
Association.
It was the first time that the leaders
of Australias rail industry had joined
with the Minister and his policy
advisers for such an event.
The evening provided an
opportunity for frank talk between
the Minister and prominent railway
figures about issues confronting the
industry.
Hot topics were the privatisation of
Australias rail industry, the best ways
to encourage competitiveness and
how track access might be achieved at
a national level.
The Ministers speech clearly
revealed his view that rail must be
privatised across its full spectrum and
largely find its own development
capital whereas road will continue to
be publicly funded and probably at
an enhanced rate.
This was not the news the industry
wanted to hear, especially given the
enormous costs involved in
improving Australias run down rail
infrastructure, but the challenge has
certainly been offered.
Guests represented a broad
spectrum of the rail industry
including operators, manufacturers,
engineers, government agencies and
freight forwarders.
BOOKS:
Premier Aussie
bookshop
on-line
Australias largest seller of
textbooks and second largest book
retailer overall, University Co-
operative Bookshop Limited, a
Jackson Wells client, is extending its
electronic distribution services.
The Co-op was the first Australian
company to introduce a virtual
bookshop on the Internet.
You can find it at:
http://www.coop-bookshop.com.au
The Co-ops new and improved site
The Well News - May97 9/12/99 4:18 PM Page 4
3 THE WELL MAY 1997
is being launched this month. The
outstanding benefit to bibliophiles is
an extension of the titles on offer
from 300,000 to 1 million.
This significant leap is part of the
Co-ops three year strategy to develop
a powerful presence in on-line
distribution and publishing.
While everyone will reap the
benefits , students will be particularly
advantaged by having course
information for their own campuses
and on-line access to texts in high
demand supported by an efficient
mail order service.
Mr Duncan Maclellan, the Co-ops
chief executive officer, said the
Internet has a long way to go to
resolve issues associated with
electronic publishing and this should
be a priority for the book industry
and for government.
The Co-op has the full range of
general, fiction, non-fiction and
academic titles and, this year, will
deliver almost $5 million in
discounts to its members.
LIGHT RAIL:
On track despite
highway getaway
The start of engineering trials for
Sydneys new Light Rail was
delayed after the trailer carrying the
first vehicle from Melbourne to
Sydney parted company with its
prime mover late April.
But, in a major step forward for the
project, the State Government has
given the go-ahead for an
environmental impact statement
into system extensions to Sydneys
inner west (Lilyfield) and through
the central business district to
Circular Quay.
What was to have been Sydneys
first operational tram in 36 years was
substantially damaged in the
incident and had to be returned to
Melbourne for reconstruction.
A replacement was due mid-May
with the official launch of the total
system put off by JWC client, the
Sydney Light Rail Company, until
August.
The new vehicles derived from
the German-designed Variotram - are
much removed from the old trams -
with their character, charm and
clatter that last trundled through
Sydney streets in 1961.
Built by ABB-Adtranz, the SLR is
quiet, clean, comfortable and
environmentally friendly.
It will carry up to 200 people along
the 3.6 km core route from Central
Railway Station to Wentworth Park
through the rapidly growing Darling
Harbour and Pyrmont Peninsula
precincts.
Jackson Wells has assisted with the
public relations aspects of the return
of trams to Sydney. This has included
government and media relations,
community and business consult-
ation, the preparation of public-
ations and other materials and the
provision of strategic and issues
management advice.
ARRIVAL 1:
Ministerial press
sec joins JWC
Toni Allan joined Jackson Wells in
mid-May from the position of press
secretary to NSW Transport
Minister, Brian Langton. She had
previously been a state political
reporter with the Daily Telegraph-
Mirror and has the unusual
distinction of working on both
sides of politics in NSW.
After attaining
a BA in commun-
ication in 1985
(she is currently
studying for a
law degree), Toni
joined the Lithgow
Mercury as a rep-
Toni Allan orter. Two years
later, she was recruited by Aust-
ralian Associated Press as a police
reporter rising to become NSW polit-
ical correspondent four years later.
In 1993, Toni became speech
writer to then Premier John Fahey
and Mrs Fahey before being
appointed press secretary to Police
and Emergency Services Minister,
Gary West.
Tonis interests include Australian
and US politics. She is co-author of
the book, An Act of Corruption? The
rise to power and unorthodox demise of
Nick Greiner.
Toni will augment JWCs already
strong position in media and
political consulting and given her
professional background will be a
particularly useful contributor to
clients in the government, transport,
law and education fields.
ARRIVAL 2:
Veteran govt PR
goes private
Brendan ODwyer, who has just
joined Jackson Wells from the
position of director of public affairs
and client services in the Affirmative
Action Agency, has a long history of
public service in the government
and not-for-profit sectors. He is also
a long-standing member (22 years)
of the National Press Club.
After graduat-
ing from the
Australian Nat-
ional University,
Brendan taught
high school in
Canberra for
three years before
Brendan ODwyer
becoming direct-
or of the World University Service in
Australia and then development
education officer for the Australian
Council for Overseas Aid.
Brendan returned to his alma
mater to spend 8 years as public
affairs coordinator with the Centre
for Continuing Education. Then
followed stints as executive director
of the Public Broadcasting
Foundation, education and public
relations director with Family
Planning Australia and public affairs
director with the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Commission.
Brendan boosts the companys
expertise in the community, social
and not-for-profit area a growing
part of our business.
The Well News - May97 9/12/99 4:17 PM Page 1
4 THE WELL MAY 1997
DEPARTURE:
ORourke back to
legit journalism
After nearly two years with Jackson
Wells, the last six months as editor
of Network Rail, Jim ORourke has
resigned to resume his career in
journalism with Sydneys Sun-
Herald newspaper.
Managing director Keith Jackson
said nothing exemplified Jims
contribution to the company more
than his stewardship of Network Rail
during a difficult transition from its
previous management to a position
where it was meeting all its editorial,
distribution and financial targets.
While with Jackson Wells, Jim
worked mainly in the media relations
area. His period with the company
also included his authoring of The
John Flynn Story commissioned by
the said Australian collector and
academic who was wrongfully jailed
in Indias notorious Tihar prison
(better known for its accommodation
of mass murderer Charles Sobraj) for
18 months in 1994 -95.
Flynn was released only after an
Australian campaign to get the then
Federal Labor Government to apply
pressure to the Indian Government to
release him.
Jackson Wells Communications
had played a major role in the
campaigns success.
Consultant Alan Marshall,
previously advertising and circulation
manager, has been appointed acting
editor of Network Rail.
Associate consultant Kelley Crocker
has been given responsibility for
circulation, subscription and
advertising.
Both Kelley and Alan have worked
on the magazine since 1996 and are
looking forward to continuing its
success.
That Jim ORourke farewell
present in full
Heres the cornucopia of thoughtful
gifts that todays work colleagues give
new age men when their career
doglegs as in the recent
transmogrification of consultant
ORourke to journalist ORourke.
One fishing vest; one bucket of bait; Australian National Training
one book on commitment in Authority
Australian Radio Network
relationships; one mesh g-string; one tube
of edible body paint; one mirror and CityRail
hairbrush; one copy Hustler magazine;
one back to school kit (containing
Countrylink
Directional Thinking
notebook, pencils, whiteout, Defamation Eakin McCaffery Cox
Energy Resources of Australia
Made Easy etc); one Thomas the Tank
Evans & Peck Management
Engine backpack (for carrying back to
school kit); one leprechaun moneybox (to Focus Publishing
Foundation for Humanitys
qualify for Mr Costellos hand out);and
Adulthood
two books of quotations in case the
Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels
interview doesnt work out as planned.
Corporation
Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust
KFC
ISSUES:
MBF of Australia
Minerals Council of NSW
Who they talked MLC Building Society
MLC Limited
about in 96 Motor Accidents Authority
National Rail Corporation
According to the Rehame media National Wholesale, Retail and
Personal Services Industry
monitoring service, politicians are the
Training Council
most talked about people on radio Network Rail Magazine
and television in Australia - easily. Rail Access Corporation
Most talked about in 1996 was PM Showboat Inc
Standards Australia
John Howard with former PM Paul
Sydney Light Rail Company
Keating a distant second. The only Telecommunications
non-politician in the top 12 most Industry Ombudsman
talked about people was Martin Telstra Multimedia
Bryant (10th). TNT Intermodal
The big radio talkback issues of University Co-Operative Bookshop
1996 were, in order, Pauline Hanson, University of Technology Sydney
Waterways Authority
gun control, Paul Keating and social
security. The big ones of 1995 had
been Carmen Lawrence, nuclear HOW TO CONTACT JWC
testing, Super League and the republic.
The top TV issue for 1996, on all Post PO Box 740, Spit Junction,
channels except SBS, was gun control. NSW 2088 Australia
The multicultural broadcasters top Phone (612) 9969 7292
issue was the Federal Governments Fax (612) 9969 7112
E-mail:
industrial relations policy.
Keith Jackson keith@jackcomm.attmail.com
John Wells john@jackcomm.attmail.com
Trevor Cook trevor@jackcomm.attmail.com
BUSINESS
Sandy Olsen sandy@jackcomm.attmail.com
Martine Hayley martine@jackcomm.attmail.com
Client list: Brendan ODwyer brendan@jackcomm.attmail.com
Toni Allan toni@jackcomm.attmail.com
Jim Kelly jimk@jackcomm.attmail.com
January-May 1997 Alan Marshall alan@jackcomm.attmail.com
Kelley Crocker kelley@jackcomm.attmail.com
Abgal Australia Wei Graham wei@jackcomm.attmail.com
Association of Independent Holly Manser holly@jackcomm.attmail.com
Schools of Queensland Internet http://www.jackwell.com.au
Australian Eagle Life Ltd The views and comments in this
Australian Radio Network newsletter are those of Jackson Wells
Communications alone and do not
Australasian Railway necessarily reflect our clients
Association Inc positions or attitudes.
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