Despite reports this week that Twitter is ending its physical presence in Australia following a tumultuous end to 2022, local boss Angus Keene has insisted his team is carrying on.
According to industry sources, an email was sent by Keene to agency staff in response to an article earlier in the week by The Sydney Morning Herald, that reported Twitter is in the process of ending its “physical presence in Australia”.
In the article titled ‘Twitter begins to axe remaining Australian staff’, industry sources said that Twitter “had closed its local office”.
However, according to Twitter, staff are working from home in Australia after the company stopped leasing its Sydney CBD office.
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Twitter boss Keene says it isn’t shutting locally
Keene said he wanted to offer reassurance that the Twitter team remains in Australia, and is committed to its partnership with agencies and their clients.
Keene did not respond to further questions when approached by Mumbrella.
Further, Keene said there have been no changes to the content and sales teams in 2023, having the full support of its cross-functional teams across the region and globally.
It’s understood there are 16 senior staff remaining locally.
Conversely, several media agency executives told Mumbrella they have not heard from the social media platform “in months”, with the last correspondence to notify them of major cuts in the second half of 2022.
Twitter was purchased by billionaire and Tesla co-founder, Elon Musk in 2022, and subsequently saw significant cuts across its global teams, with staff in Twitter Australia’s communications, marketing, government relations and news content teams all being laid off, barring a few exceptions.
Keene was officially promoted into the managing director role for the platform’s operations in Australia and New Zealand last year after almost a year as its acting boss.
A report in The New York Times this week reports that Twitter has “considered selling user names to generate new revenue as its owner, Elon Musk, tries to resuscitate the company’s business, two people with knowledge of the plan said”.
Like many small Australian beachside holiday towns, Crescent Head — with its popular surf break — heaves under a huge population surge every summer.
Its enduring small-town charm and surf culture on New South Wales' Mid North Coast has captured the attention of Sydney-born designer and hotelier George Gorrow.
With his wife and German model Cisco Tschurtschenthaler, the pair are transforming an old motel at Crescent Head into a 1970s-inspired surf club hotel to be opened later this year.
However, some locals who are already managing the annual tourist congestion are unhappy, especially as there is another motel redevelopment proposal under consideration for the town.
From Bali to Crescent Head
Mr Gorrow co-founded streetwear fashion label Ksubi and has spent the past decade living in Bali, where he and Ms Tschurtschenthaler opened a successful hotel and gallery in the surf town of Canggu.
A longboard surfer enjoys Crescent Head's point break.(Supplied: Woody Gooch)
Now parents of two young boys, they have returned to Australia and to a town holding fond memories for Mr Gorrow.
"Crescent Head still feels like that place you visited as a child, still feels so pure " Mr Gorrow said.
"I love surfing. So does my wife, and Crescent Head is one of the most iconic surf breaks on the north coast, so we are trying to keep in with that [theme].
"My vision of a surf club hotel comes from when I was young and used to travel around the coast with my dad, who was an avid surfer.
"We would always stay in different cabins."
Mr Gorrow also loves "original Aussie pubs overflowing with culture".
"So I want to bring that into the place, where everything you look at tells a story," he said.
George Gorrow is a father to two young sons and loves to surf.(Supplied: George Gorrow)
The hotel, on Pacific Street, will also include a gallery, music and restaurant, and locally shaped surfboards.
Mr Gorrow said the external structure would not change much in a bid to "keep a lot of the uniqueness of the building" and its footprint will be reduced to 24 rooms.
"The Macleay region is so rich in culture; we will also be partnering with local farms and producers to showcase the region," he said.
Ksubi founders Gareth Moody and George Gorrow have also released a new fashion line.(Supplied: George Gorrow)
A village 'under incredible stress'
The other motel redevelopment proposal in the works is for a property on nearby Baker Drive.
Crescent Head Malibu Club president Roger Fergusson says coastal towns are under stress.(Supplied: Roger Ferguson)
The development application for a three-storey building is with Kempsey Shire Council and on public display for feedback.
It has sparked concerns among some locals that the character of their seaside community risks being lost among new and upmarket developments.
Crescent Head Malibu Club president and resident of 30 years Roger Fergusson says the village community is "under incredible stress".
"Coastal villages are under threat everywhere, the ethos, the history of village lifestyle that makes up the north coast of NSW," he said.
"We have an incredible surge of traffic and people this summer, a huge volume of illegal campers, our water is under threat, our sewerage is under threat and parking is over the top."
The town 'needs tourism'
Robyn Harvey, 72, a former Australian longboard surfer who grew up in Crescent Head, said there was a positive side to new developments.
Crescent Head Holiday Park is a popular destination for tourists.(Supplied: Crescent Head Holiday Park)
"We need tourism for the shops to survive and get through our winter … this will just sparkle it up a little bit," she said.
"I've seen the town back in the 1950s right through to now.
"It was great then and now. We all have to learn to share and get along with every generation."
A public meeting to discuss the latest Baker Drive development proposal will be held locally on January 12.
Robyn Harvey watches Crescent Head's point break in 1963 as a 13-year-old.(Supplied: Robyn Harvey)
Finding the right balance
Kempsey Shire Councillor and resident Alexandra Wyatt said finding the balance between maintaining small town character and embracing expansion was a challenge.
Crescent Head is a popular coastal village on NSW's Mid North Coast.(Supplied: Robyn Harvey)
"I find opinion in Crescent Head very divided," Cr Wyatt said.
"Things can't stay the same as they were in the 1970s, '80s, '90s … and we need to make sure they evolve in a way that is aesthetically pleasing, that maintains environmental values and the character of the landscape.
"I would also like to see some social equity in there, so we don't just kick out everyone who can't afford to be there.
"We cannot love these places to death."
Crescent Head is home to a well-known Australian point break.(Supplied: Robyn Harvey)
Lebanese security officials are concerned over plans by the Palestinian Hamas terror group to carry out an attack against Israel from southern Lebanon, local media reported Saturday.
The Beirut Observer news site published a list of Hamas members who were allegedly involved in planning attacks without the involvement of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Hamas operatives were named in the report as Samir Fendi, Hassan Farhat, Nadim Dawabsha and Ahmed Hamdan Abdullah.
The Beirut Observer said Lebanese security officials criticized “Hezbollah’s lack of action… because the implementation of any operation against Israel at this particular time will endanger Lebanon and add a new tragedy to its tragedies.”
In December 2021, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the Gaza-ruling Hamas quietly established a Lebanese branch in recent years to open up an additional front against Israel in future conflicts.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
The branch is based in the port city of Tyre, but it is believed to have other outposts throughout the country. A week after the report, an alleged Hamas weapons depot hidden underneath a mosque in the Burj Shamali refugee camp, near Tyre, exploded, killing a member.
There have also been several instances of rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel in recent years, with most blamed on Palestinian factions in the country, not Hezbollah.
However, it is unlikely that terrorists in southern Lebanon would be able to fire rockets without at least the tacit approval of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which maintains tight control over the area.
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Illustrative: Hezbollah fighters attend the funeral procession on May 15, 2021, of their comrade Mohammed Tahhan who was shot dead by Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border, in the southern village of Adloun, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Saturday’s report said Lebanese security officials were urging Hezbollah to prevent the Hamas cell from carrying out an attack against Israel.
“Hezbollah completely controls southern Lebanon, and disregards UNIFIL, therefore, no one will be able to do anything without its approval, and if [it] agrees to this Hamas cell to carry out operations, then it is very dangerous for Lebanon,” the Beirut Observer said.
Hezbollah has long represented the most significant military threat on Israel’s borders, with an estimated arsenal of nearly 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach anywhere in the country.
The Israel Defense Forces has estimated that a potential military campaign as part of a several-day flare-up with Hezbollah would likely wind up killing thousands of people in Lebanon, both civilians and Hezbollah fighters.
Lebanese security officials are concerned over plans by the Palestinian Hamas terror group to carry out an attack against Israel from southern Lebanon, local media reported Saturday.
The Beirut Observer news site published a list of Hamas members who were allegedly involved in planning attacks without the involvement of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Hamas operatives were named in the report as Samir Fendi, Hassan Farhat, Nadim Dawabsha and Ahmed Hamdan Abdullah.
The Beirut Observer said Lebanese security officials criticized “Hezbollah’s lack of action… because the implementation of any operation against Israel at this particular time will endanger Lebanon and add a new tragedy to its tragedies.”
In December 2021, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the Gaza-ruling Hamas quietly established a Lebanese branch in recent years to open up an additional front against Israel in future conflicts.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
The branch is based in the port city of Tyre, but it is believed to have other outposts throughout the country. A week after the report, an alleged Hamas weapons depot hidden underneath a mosque in the Burj Shamali refugee camp, near Tyre, exploded, killing a member.
There have also been several instances of rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel in recent years, with most blamed on Palestinian factions in the country, not Hezbollah.
However, it is unlikely that terrorists in southern Lebanon would be able to fire rockets without at least the tacit approval of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which maintains tight control over the area.
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Illustrative: Hezbollah fighters attend the funeral procession on May 15, 2021, of their comrade Mohammed Tahhan who was shot dead by Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border, in the southern village of Adloun, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Saturday’s report said Lebanese security officials were urging Hezbollah to prevent the Hamas cell from carrying out an attack against Israel.
“Hezbollah completely controls southern Lebanon, and disregards UNIFIL, therefore, no one will be able to do anything without its approval, and if [it] agrees to this Hamas cell to carry out operations, then it is very dangerous for Lebanon,” the Beirut Observer said.
Hezbollah has long represented the most significant military threat on Israel’s borders, with an estimated arsenal of nearly 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach anywhere in the country.
The Israel Defense Forces has estimated that a potential military campaign as part of a several-day flare-up with Hezbollah would likely wind up killing thousands of people in Lebanon, both civilians and Hezbollah fighters.
