IVE TO PRINT 12.4 MILLION VOICE PAMPHLETS

IVE has won the job to print the Voice referendum pamphlet, which, as it is set to go to all 12.4 million Australian households, will be the biggest print job of the year, and one of the biggest of all time.

Full details of the job are under strict contract terms, but the last referendum pamphlet, on the proposal for Australia to become a republic 24 years ago, ran to 72 pages.

The pamphlet will contain an explanation of the referendum, how to vote information, and a 2000 word essay from each side, outlining their positions.

Marketing services operation IVE is the country's biggest print business, with a battery of heatset web offset presses ideal for such a long run job.

Print and delievery time could be as little as six weeks. Following the successful vote in Parliament to hold the referendum, the AEC has now told both sides that their 2000 word essays have to be in by 17 June, and prime minister Anthony Albanese will likely announce the referendum date at the indigenous Garma festival on 4-7 August, for a vote that could be just eight weeks later.

Under law the referendum pamphlet has to be delivered to each household no later than two weeks prior to the referendum date. IVE will have to have the pamphlet distributed to every household in the country, no matter how remote.

A printed referendum pamphlet has been a requirement of every referendum since federation in 1901, but this year the government attempted to ditch it, claiming digital information was enough. However, after a concerted campaign by print employers’ association PVCA and others, the government relented.

PVCA campaigned to the prime minister and multiple politicians including leader of the opposition Peter Dutton, essentially arguing that having no printed pamphlet was discriminatory, as significant swathes of the population were not digitally enabled.

PVCA argued that it is only print that is capable of reaching all citizens and engaging with them, particularly those without ready access to the internet found in lower socio-economic groups, in regional areas, the elderly, and crucially, among the indigenous population.

Kellie Northwood, CEO of PVCA said the association had been “heartened by the support for print” shown on talkback radio, whose airwaves she said, “have been full of people wanting the printed pamphlet." Northwood added, "It shows print has a lot of support in the community.”

The government’s joint standing committee on electoral matters had initially signalled the pamphlet would not be printed, causing an outcry from supporters of both the Yes and the No camps. They said the absence of a printed pamphlet from the government will cause much of the population to get their information on the referendum from social media pages, which will not have the same commitment to facts that the government pamphlet would adhere to.

Northwood said, “The print industry is the most trusted channel, it reaches all citizens, including our most vulnerable Australians, carries the highest comprehension levels for important information and is most highly read by older cohorts. In addition to that, our industry is a significant contributor to the economy and government’s position to ‘cut costs’ is a false economy when considering the high number of people we employ and the role our industry plays in feeding into the economy. It is simply not common-sense for the government to remove an important media channel, such as print, from communicating information across something as important as the Voice referendum.”