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NEWS Corp continues to scale back its operations on the Gold Coast with an announcement today that it plans to close its print centre at Molendinar.
Gold Coast Bulletin staff were told today of the closure of the state-of-the-art printing facility which was developed more than a decade ago at a cost of $40 million.
It is understood the move, which will take place in April next year, will affect 60 jobs.
Some are expected to be relocated to Brisbane where News Corp continues to consolidate many of its Gold Coast operations.
A reorganisation of News Corp’s Brisbane print operations at Murrarie is also expected as part of the transition.
“Today’s announcement of the consolidation of our Brisbane and Gold Coast print operations is part of the ongoing transformation of News Corp Australia,” says a News Corp spokesman.
“For people in the roles affected, we will seek redeployment within the business where possible.
“Unfortunately it is likely that some people will be leaving the business – they will, of course, receive their full entitlements.”
It has been suggested that the Gold Coast print centre, which has been used for the local printing of News Corp banners such as The Daily Telegraph, has been operating below capacity in recent years.
The closure comes on the heels of plans to relocate The Bulletin’s editorial and advertising team from Molendinar to the Seabank building in Southport.
The move has been prompted by dwindling staff numbers as more than 400 jobs are estimated to have been either lost or relocated to Brisbane since 2010.
The job losses gathered pace under former News Ltd chief executive Kim Williams, who stepped aside from the company’s top job last week.
News Ltd’s regional mastheads have been the most affected under Williams “one newsroom” restructure which involved a centralisation of news and advertising operations.
The job shedding at The Bulletin began with the relocation of the newspaper’s classifieds division to a call centre in Brisbane.
Williams’ replacement Julian Clarke is said to have played no part in the decision to close the Gold Coast print centre with the decision said to have been already in train before his arrival.
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