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

All stands for the Visual Impact Expo in Brisbane in July are now 100 per cent booked, with a full house of suppliers ready to showcase their latest equipment, systems and services.

The Print21 Australia and New Zealand drupa party, for printers in Dusseldorf for the big show, will take place in the middle of drupa, on Friday evening 31 May, with the multi award-winning Frankenheim brewery the location. Tickets are now available.

Australia Post has ended daily deliveries for letters, extended the delivery schedule, and upped the price of a stamp by 25 per cent, the moves causing frustration and angst in the print and mail industries.

Ben Eaton, managing director of industry supplier Starleaton, has issued an open letter to the industry, as the much slimmed down operation begins trading again under a deed of company arrangement.

Mesh Direct Media is in voluntary administration, the Sydney based large format print manager going down with debts of $1.9m, with several print businesses owed substantial sums.

Konica Minolta will have one of the biggest stands at drupa, and will launch a host of new technologies in digital print and embellishing, all in a SmartFactory layout.

PrintNZ has nominated the ten apprentices who will contest the BJ Ball Print Apprentice of the Year, with the winner to be revealed at Pride in Print, which takes place in Wellington on 12 July.

Print and sign franchise group Kwik Kopy will host its conference in Fiji later this month, under the title "World of Possibilities: Empowering Us to Make Possible."

The government will keep the Instant Asset Write Off, introduced during the Covid era, with the Senate raising the proposed level, but local printers are calling for it to be dramatically increased, to help them compete against foreign operators.

Imaging giant Fujifilm will have one of the biggest stands at the big event, and will use it to show a swag of new print solutions in commercial, wide format and packaging hardware, software and consumables.

Australian trade print supplier CMYKhub has become the first printer in the world to order new EFI VUTEk Q3h XP and EFI VUTEk Q3h X hybrid printers, the order placed with channel partner Currie Group.

Label printers in the country’s vineyard regions are celebrating, as China has officially ended its ban on Australian wine, meaning tens of millions of wine labels could soon be rolling off the presses again.

This year’s Women in Print Breakfast will include Canberra for the first time, so enabling the growing association to extend its reach to almost every state and territory in Australia.

Elisabeth Mitchell won the Salesperson of the Year Award at the annual Konica Minolta Sales Achievement Awards, as the Production Print division recorded its best ever annual result.

The latest issue of the nation’s favourite print business magazine, Print21, with the drupa Preview, is being mailed to the owners and managers of print companies across Australia and New Zealand.