According to the magistrate Mathew Smith the wages were withheld in the months leading up to Francis putting Beaver into administration, including over Christmas, leading to some emotional scenes with workers, with the company, “seeking to benefit from the unpaid labour of some of its employees.” The magistrate continued, “The non-payments were deliberate, as was the refusal to pay the arrears.”

Francis had told his staff that he was waiting on cheques coming in and told staff, “Once that has happened I’ll pay a couple of people their wages until we’re caught up. If you don’t like that you can leave.”

Beaver eventually went into administration in April after an aborted merger attempt with Chippendale Printing. The Beaver Press owners also owned Goodcrowd Print, although that was registered in Francis’ wife’s name. Goodcrowd went down in the previous March with a $1.4m debt, with $428,000 owed to Fuji Xerox, $160,000 to the tax office, and $99,000 to SOS Print + Media. A new company Goodcrowd Integrated Print Communication was registered on June 4, much to the ire of local printers.

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