January 2024 marked the end of a very long and noteworthy era for the New Internationalist magazine in Australia. 

In charting how it unfolded, I want to thank those who made such a special contribution to extending the reach of the New Internationalist magazine into so many homes, schools and tertiary classes. The magazine reports on action for global justice. It promotes putting people before profit, climate justice, tax justice, equality, social responsibility and human rights for all.

In response to global myths and misinformation the magazine was founded by Peter and Lesley Adamson in Oxford UK, with issue #1 being released in March 1973.

In the March 2013 edition Peter Adamson reviewed progress in the 40 years since the inception of the magazine, and argued for more action on inequality. The story included this classic pic of the original New Internationalist staff members. From left to right: Dexter Tiranti, Peter Adamson, Lesley Adamson, Paddy Goymour, Alice Lindsay, Alex Brodie, Mary-Jo Putney, Lindsay Knight and Anne Carr. Troth Wells (inset) was taking the photo.

Peter Adamson visits Australia

Adrian Harris was National Director of Community Aid Abroad (now called Oxfam Australia) from 1975 to 1979, a time when I was fortunate enough to witness the wise and indefatigable leadership of founding Chair, David Scott.

Adrian hosted a 1977 speaking tour of Australia by Peter Adamson, the inspirational first editor of the New Internationalist magazine. I will never forget the momentous National Executive meeting chaired by David at which Adrian had the foresight to advocate strongly – and successfully – for Community Aid Abroad to provide significant seed-funding for the magazine, both to prop up the venture in the UK and to promote sales of the magazine in Australia, despite the misgivings of some other members of the Executive Committee.

New Internationalist company established in Australia

Soon there were enough subscriptions to warrant printing an Australian edition, and on 15th March 1979 a local company – New Internationalist Publications Pty Ltd – was incorporated, initially managed by the founding Company Secretary Graham Romanes. Members of the Carlton Community Aid Abroad Group hand-delivered many subscription copies by bicycle.

From a few hundred supporters in 1977, the New Internationalist magazine subscriber base grew to 2,400 in December 1981. During that time journalist Ann Jennison managed the Melbourne office till shortly before her death in her early 80s.

In 1982 New Internationalist Co-Editor Christopher Sheppard visited from Oxford to report on the progress of the Australian company and to help plan for future expansion. Brian Loffler was appointed Company Secretary and was given the task of moving the New Internationalist Australian office to Adelaide.

Transition to a workers’ co-op

In September 1987, another New Internationalist Co-Editor Chris Brazier visited from Oxford to oversee the transition of the Australian company from a Board-managed structure to a workers’ co-op, more similar to the UK company. 

Additional editorial content from Asia-Pacific region

Australian-based editorial input changed considerably over the decades, but included notable contributions from Foreign Editor of the Melbourne Age Cameron Forbes working closely with Community Aid Abroad Director, Harry Martin; Bob Hawkins on freeway mania in Melbourne in 1980; and George Fisher on The Rise of Japan. The first full-time Australian editor, Anouk Ride wrote with great flair on subjects as diverse as Peace and Reconciliation, Mining and Fish. Chris Richards produced a memorable magazine on West Papua in 2002.

Much volunteer input by non-executive directors

Stephen Lavender was welcomed to the Board as a non-executive director at the 8th April 1992 meeting, replacing Megs Alston who had represented Community Aid Abroad on the Board.  Present for the phone conference were Sandy Loffler (finance), George Fisher (editorial), Ann Jennison (admin), Brian Walsh (marketing) and Brian Loffler (Company Secretary). Stephen continued with the Board until the closure of the New Internationalist Adelaide office in 2019, a remarkable voluntary contribution.

Other people who had provided significant input in the early years of the Board (1997 to 1982) included strategy consultant and NGO governance specialist Michael Henry, musician, composer and Asia specialist Jim Minchin, Non-Executive Director for a range of NGOs Greg Thompson, overseas volunteer service specialist Bill Armstrong and communications specialist and radio and TV journalist Dominique Schwartz.

Dedicated office volunteers

Volunteer office workers also contributed greatly, notably Audrey Hensell (mailing packs), Norah Trenham (book-keeping for decades) and Vicki Kalgovas who cheerfully contributed in every aspect, no matter whether chatting knowledgeably to subscribers, doing data entry or preparing keyword analysis for web marketing.  She was eager to ensure that students and library users could be exposed to an experience of life beyond the confines of Australian culture, so she patiently contacted hundreds of librarians around the country, introducing the New Internationalist magazine to them.

Seriously talented staff team recruited

We were also lucky to recruit a seriously talented team to work as staff members including Kerry Lehmann and Sally Francis in the early 1990s. Poet and library teacher Helen Parsons (subscriber services) joined in 1995 and stayed with us till the Adelaide public office closed in 2019. Her cheerful diligence and attention to detail was greatly appreciated by subscribers and her fellow staff members.

In 1996 a flat salary structure was adopted. Since then, all permanent members of staff received the same base salary, independent of the type of work being undertaken. This policy – along with a flat co-operative management structure – was conducive to congenial and mutually-supportive teamwork. Finance Manager Sandy Loffler enhanced that even more, providing useful interpersonal glue. Consequently we enjoyed working with a team who were highly committed and long-serving.

Mail order catalogues take off

From a small single-page catalogue in 1995, the New Internationalist Australia mail order shop grew to four substantial catalogues each year: the Fair Trade Catalogue putting our readers in touch with producer groups around the world who are committed to supplying fair trade products; the Global Learning Guide featuring educational books, videos and games; the Sustainable Living catalogue offering environmentally-conscious necessities; and the Great Global Gifts Guide listing ethical gifts and products that were both attractive and utilitarian.

Our early catalogues featured mostly the calendars and greeting cards produced by New Internationalist Co-Editor – and fine-printing aficionado – Dexter Tiranti, who worked with expert designer Barbara Willi-Halter and the international One World Calendar Consortium to initiate a unique range of global story-telling photo-products in 1982. Many of them are still in production today and are sold on the New Internationalist UK Ethical Shop, from Booktopia in Australia and from Amazon in North America.

Simon Loffler coordinated designs for the youth-oriented Plan B Diary which was added to the range later.

The extensive range of food books from prolific New Internationalist author Troth Wells soon became another staple in the catalogues too. Whilst being beautifully illustrated cook books, they were equally significant in their underlying ethos of global food equity.

Sales grew so much – eventually reaching $1million per year in 2008 – that we soon needed additional co-op members to handle the workload.  Artist and educational publishing administrator Pam Evers was recruited to manage stock, answer customer inquiries and mail out the orders, a role she fulfilled admirably till 2012.  

International contribution to the Fair Trade movement

In 2005 we were also very fortunate to recruit Paul Deighton who had previously been very successful managing mail order at Oxfam Trading. For New Internationalist Australia he took on the roles of identifying new fair trade and ethical products, ordering stock and planning catalogues. Paul also played a key role internationally in the development of the fair trade movement, working as Secretary of the global World Fair Trade Organization at a time when much policy work was done designing systems for fair trade standards, compliance and monitoring. He greatly strengthened our links with key organic and fair trade producer groups such as Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills in India, CORR – The Jute Works in Bangladesh and Global Mamas in Ghana.

Subscriptions to the magazine hit a high

Print subscriber numbers peaked in 2005 when we mailed 18,000 print copies of the New Internationalist magazine to subscribers as well as offering the magazine on newsstands.

Digital developments

We had long anticipated that digital technology would inevitably lead to both the proliferation of online journalism outlets, as well as the eventual decline in print circulation. In 1998 we were contracted to develop and maintain a fledgling website on behalf of our New Internationalist colleagues in Oxford UK, with creative technologist Simon Loffler hired to do the work. Simon went on to produce many other digital products such as the New Internationalist Archive CD-ROM, covering more than 20 years of the New Internationalist magazine.

With input from Pix (left), Simon built an in-house digital magazine subscription system from the ground up.

By 2012 we knew that we would need to accelerate the development of a complete range of digital subscription offerings for the magazine, so at a special Futures planning meeting Simon was given the task of developing an online version of the magazine that was pay-to-access, with matching Apps for mobile phones and tablets. The online version went live in 2013, the mobile App for Apple devices in 2014, and the Android App in 2015, a remarkable achievement for a small publisher, and a tribute to Simon’s admirable digital talents. 

Industry-leading sharing of articles to non-subscribers

The self-service online magazine and Apps were industry-leading. They allowed us to open some magazine articles for free access, whilst most were available only to paying subscribers. Importantly, subscribers were able to share individual articles with non-subscriber friends and on social media.  This share icon created a guest pass so the non-subscriber could read the article.  That was great for increasing both readership and new subscriptions.  The system also provided special facilities for libraries and schools. They were offered institutional subscriptions which enabled – for example – a whole class of students to use that subscription concurrently. 

Google Ad GrantsPro

We also secured a Google Ad GrantsPro account which enabled us to run – for more than seven years – tens of thousands of dollars worth of ads every month at no cost to New Internationalist.

Winding down and transferring subscriber-management back to NI in Oxford

But despite all that superb work we were unable to recruit enough new supporters to replace natural attrition. So we were forced to close our mail order service in 2018, and to close the Australian office in 2019. After that, non-profit management specialist Debra Arnold looked after company management, finance and subscribers until we finally transferred subscription-servicing back to the New Internationalist Oxford office in January 2024.

Thanks

Huge thanks to all who’ve supported our advocacy for global justice over five decades. The need for action is as great as ever and the magazine continues internationally. All strength to the New Internationalist team in Oxford, and to all who actively support the magazine and the activism that it promotes.