BACK TO THE FUTURE NOT FOR PRINT

The VMA says the prime minister’s new Future Made in Australia plan has nothing in it for print, and it is one of many organisations questioning what appears to be a return to the protectionist policies of the past. 

The initial Future Made in Australia fund comprises $15bn of taxpayer cash, plus another $1bn for a solar panel project among others. It is intended to make Australia self-reliant in various areas, including clean energy.

Critics, who include former RBA governor Bernie Fraser, and the government's own newly appointed chair of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood, say it is protectionism by another name, with critics saying that government funding local business to compete with cheap overseas imports is an unwinnable strategy, that could suck up a bottomless well of money. They say the track record of protectionism and government subsidy is that it does nothing but make society economically poorer, through resulting higher taxes and higher debt.

Speaking from print industry employers group VMA, Charles Watson, its IR, governance and policy manager, said, “The legislative amendments are packaging up the pre-existing National Reconstruction Fund, solar panel manufacturing subsidisation, clean energy production and other programmes and initiatives under one umbrella. On the surface, the federal government’s announcement appears to provide a coordinated approach to current government policy on its industry subsidisation and incentivisation.

“Unfortunately, the announcements do not have any clear priorities that directly benefit our industry. However, there are likely to be flow on benefits from the outputs of those prioritised industries. Nevertheless, we welcome the proactive nature of the announcements and wait to see the full details to determine whether it will provide true benefits and greater resilience for the economy in the longer term, or create a particular class of industries that are reliant on taxpayer subsidisation to compete.”

Watson also addressed the long-standing pain-point for local printers, when they see taxpayer funded institutions, including the government itself, buying print from overseas because it is a bit cheaper, without giving any thought to the myriad benefits of buying local and so keeping that money in the Australian economy.

He said, “VMA will continue pushing government at all levels on the essential nature of domestic print manufacturing, and the benefits its brings to Australians and the economy, along with the requirement that government walk the talk of these announcements and prioritise buying print domestically.”

The prime minister said legislation creating the Future Made in Australia Act will provide a coordinated response to build a more competitive renewable energy industry, create new job opportunities, and ultimately set Australia up for future economic success. Albanese said industrial powerhouses including the US, Europe, Korea and Japan were all now ringfencing domestic manufacturing.

Critics though say it will create a class of businesses endlessly reliant on government (taxpayer) subsidies, and say it will enrich the wealthy few who set up the businesses, and divert workers away from high-value work. They point to the success of the local economy when the reformist Labor governments of half a century ago dismantled the old protectionist models. They say the government should focus on supporting industries where Australia can be competitive, such as technology and agriculture, rather than trying to compete with the vast factories of Asia by subsidising domestic solar panel manufacturing and the like, and they say the government should significantly raise the spend and investment on R+D.

Innes Willox, CEO of manufacturers' association Ai Group said, “We are invited to make a leap of faith that more government guidance and support is the answer to our ills. Industry will naturally view the promise of more government intervention with suspicion, if not alarm.”

Print has had some success in competing against cheap overseas imports, thanks to guaranteed supply, courtesy of on-shored manufacturing, but printers say the government needs to do much more to support the industry, such as raising the instant asset write-off from $30,000 to $1m or more, so businesses can invest more strongly in new technology to make themselves more competitive against low wage Asian print companies.