News

Fairfax CEO to lecture on media industry competition issues

Media Release, Wednesday 24 October 2001

Fairfax Chief Executive Officer, Fred Hilmer, says that the rules and regulations governing competition in the media industry - put in place a decade ago to promote diversity - are in fact frustrating achievement of these public policy objectives.

Mr Hilmer, who chaired the National Competition Policy Review Committee in 1992/3, says there appears to be a strong consensus that Australia should have a diverse and competitive media industry that continues to deliver the high quality content expected by the community.

He will tackle the contentious issue of competition in the media industry when he gives the 2001 A N Smith Lecture in Journalism at the University of Melbourne next Tuesday (30 October 2001). In the lecture -- The Media Industry: Public Policy Choices - he will discuss the issues and the consequences of the public policy choices for the media industry that will be on the agenda after the Federal Elections.

With a career spanning the law, management consulting and academia, Mr Hilmer moved into the media industry in 1998 when he took on the role of CEO at John Fairfax Holdings. Previously he had been Professor of Management in the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in the University of New South Wales, and a partner of international management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company (for 20 years, the last nine years of which he managed the Australian practice). He served on the Committee of Inquiry into Management Education during 1981 and 1982.

With a law degree from the University of Sydney and a Master of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of Finance where he was appointed a Joseph Wharton Fellow. He taught law at the University of Pennsylvania and practiced law in Australia.

Mr Hilmer was a member of the Commonwealth Higher Education Council and Chairman of the Business Council of Australia's Employee Relations Study Group. He is currently Deputy Chairman of Westfield Holdings Limited and of Foster's Group Limited and, until recently, was Chairman of Pacific Power.

The A N Smith Lecture in Journalism commemorates Arthur Norman Smith, a leading political journalist and a founder of the Australian Journalists Association. Over its 60-year history the lecture has attracted a series of distinguished speakers including Rupert Murdoch; Paul Kelly; Bob Hawke; Michelle Grattan; Maxine McKew; and Bruce Petty.

WHAT: The Media Industry: Public Policy Choices 2001 A. N. Smith Lecture in Journalism

WHO: Mr Fred Hilmer, CEO, John Fairfax Holdings

WHEN: Tuesday 30 October at 6.00pm

WHERE: Woodruff Lecture Theatre, Microbiology and Immunology Building (enter Via Royal Parade, Gate 12)

The lecture is free and open to the public. Enquiries: 03 8344 4993.