Australian MPs against Fairfax plan to move jobs to NZ

Fairfax is planning on outsourcing Australian journalism jobs to New Zealand. Photo / Thinkstock

The NSW upper house has passed a motion calling on Fairfax management to abandon plans to outsource local production jobs to New Zealand.

Fairfax on Tuesday confirmed plans to move regional editorial production jobs, including page design, layout and sub-editing roles, to Fairfax Editorial Services in New Zealand.

Today, the NSW upper house unanimously backed a motion of support for Fairfax workers.

"Fairfax's proposed changes will undermine the quality of news and current affairs reporting in the Hunter, the Illawarra and the rest of NSW," Greens MP John Kaye said in a statement.

Mr Kaye, who moved the motion, accused Fairfax of "stubbornly pushing ahead with these changes".

"The NSW upper house calls on Fairfax management to put quality news and current affairs reporting in this state ahead of budget considerations and to abandon its outsourcing plans," he said in a statement.

Paul Murphy, director of media at the journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), will meet Fairfax representatives later today.

The meeting has been described as a fact-finding mission.

It follows the passing of a no-confidence motion in Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood on Wednesday by staff at The Newcastle Herald and The Illawarra Mercury.

Mr Hywood has maintained the New Zealand plans won't have any negative impact on the quality of the affected dailies or associated community titles.

Comment is being sought from Fairfax on the NSW upper house motion.

-AAP