The print industry employers’ group, Visual Media Association, has labelled the new workplace laws as messy and confusing, joining a chorus of business groups opposed to the latest changes.

Stricken wide-format supplies business Starleaton went into administration with debts in excess of $17.5m. The administrators are recommending liquidation. Unsecured creditors are facing zero returns.

The monster storm that swept through Melbourne saw several print businesses impacted, including Neo Press and Eastern Press, with a 30m gum tree uprooted and hitting the Mulgrave building.

The first Print21 magazine of the new year, packed with business information, is arriving on the desks of the owners and managers of print businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

Starleaton’s administrators are hoping to sell the business as one entity, with one due diligence by a potential buyer currently underway, and other businesses expressing interest in the wide-format supplier.

Visual Connections has finalised its new board for 2024, with the new-look leadership group gathering this week to formulate the supplier association’s strategy for the next five years.

Printers are being asked to swim, or donate, for mental health in the annual Head Above Water 24-hour Swimathon – and this year they can swim in any location they choose – as one in five print people will face mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, in the next 12 months.

Net profit at the world’s biggest packaging business, Amcor, fell by almost 60 per cent in the first half of the financial year, leading to the company axeing 2000 jobs, about five per cent of its workforce, as it seeks to reduce costs.

Currie Group is hosting an ABG By Appointment event next month, aimed at providing tailored demonstrations to those in the market looking for label converting solutions.

HP Industrial Print will have eight automated production lines capable of handling 80 jobs and 25 different applications on the drupa show floor, powered by its latest innovations.

Lamont Print + Signs celebrated its new building with an Open House event in Townsville that saw 100 people attending, including local federal and state MPs.

Kuhn Corp Print & Packaging has purchased Regal Signs & Designs from its original owners, in a move to boost its growing sign and display operations.

Wide-format print solutions developers EFI and Agfa are in a new partnership, which will see them sell some of each other’s systems, supported by their own digital front-ends.

Staff and shareholders at online graphic design juggernaut Canva, which has partnerships with several ANZ printers, are set to share a $2.3bn windfall, with a secondary share offering imminent, according to Bloomberg. An IPO is a year or two away.

A change in the law on workplace standards means that print bosses who fail to implement measures to mitigate against sexual harassment or bullying can be fined, even if nothing has happened.

The first creditors meeting of stricken wide format supplies operation Starleaton is set to take place at 1pm today, in virtual format via Teams, for pre-approved creditors.