PRINTERS BACKING CAMPAIGN TO BRING BACK GOVT PRINT

The campaign to bring government printing back to Australia has received great support from industry, with Print and Visual Communication Association CEO Andrew Macaulay saying the response has been "fantastic".

The campaign, which is run by a partnership between the AMWU, the PVCA, and Marvel Bookbinding & Print Finishing, is calling on all levels of government to immediately shift all the $150m+ printing it is sending overseas back to Australian print business.

Printers have been invited to sign and e-petition which has already garnered more than 2000 signatures in just a few days, and to lobby their MPs. The campaign is to get government and taxpayer funded institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria to buy their print in Australia. Printers and the union are aggrieved that government loads on costs onto Australian business such as super, payroll tax, OHS and environmental compliances, and then goes offshore to buy print "because it's cheaper".

Macaulay said the response to the petition since it was launched at the weekend has been fantastic. “There has been massive industry support for it,” he said.

“There's $300m worth of print imported into this country every year. If the government turned around and start buying its share of that in Australia, which is more than half, some of our members’ business would turn around overnight.”

"A print job is a skilled job, sustainable job, creative job, it just seems to me to be a no-brainer. We need to be bringing this print back onshore,” he said.

“It’s disingenuous to argue that it’s free trade that makes it happen. Free trade implies you’re looking at similar markets.

“When the government implements policies that increase energy costs, and then they go and buy print in countries where the government subsidises electricity for manufacturing, that’s not a level playing field; that’s not free trade.”

The campaign – which includes an e-petition – is ongoing as local presses sit idle as a result of the coronavirus, while the government and taxpayer-funded institutions send print work overseas, on the basis that "ït's a bit cheaper".

Industry has launched a petition and urges all print business people to sign it. The petition – It's time to make print and packaging thrive in Australia – is online, click here to get to it and e-sign it.