Connect 2023, the world’s biggest print and packaging industry software conference, hosted by eProductivity Software, opened its doors today, welcoming printers, suppliers and trade media from around the world, writes Print21 editor Wayne Robinson from the event in Las Vegas.

Pioneering inkjet engine developer Memjet is bringing production back to Australia, creating a new factory in Ryde, NSW, which will build systems for export around the world.

After nine years of Liberal rule the Labor party finally made it into power following the May elections, and instigated the biggest change in Industrial Relations legislation in decades, causing outcry among business groups.

In an industry that is used to having all supply on-demand, print faced a dramatic change as supply of everything became challenged during 2022, compounded by the year ending with Opal’s Maryvale mill stopping UWF and copy paper production.

In a move that was widely welcomed, 2022 saw the two big employers' associations Print and Visual Communications Association and The Real Media Collective merge, to form one "super industry body."

2022 will be remembered for Covid restrictions finally being sent packing, with the economy at first struggling back to life, but by the end of the year much of the local print industry was thundering along. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Print21.

Opal Paper is considering a reduction in size, or the full closure, of white paper production (UWF and copy papers) at the Maryvale Mill, as production grinds to a halt following the court judgement against its log supplier VicForests in favour of a rare possum.

Precision Forme Cutting owner Alf Puglia will close the Melbourne-based business at Christmas, resisting sales offers, as he steps into retirement after 41 years in the trade.

Screen is giving its Truepress range of digital inkjet print systems new market-specific branding, which spells out the applications in three main categories, and will soon launch two new packaging presses.

Finishing solutions remain a key focus for the world’s biggest press manufacturer Heidelberg, with its investment in the development of folding, guillotine and die-cutting systems reaping rewards for print and packaging businesses.

Patrick Howard joins an LIA tour of the Penrith Museum of Print, and discovers 400 years of print technology, sustained by a dedicated band of enthusiasts, but whose premises are now under threat.

The latest issue of Print21 magazine, and the final edition of the year, is out now and arriving on the desks of print business owners and managers around Australia and New Zealand.

The government's new IR bill passed into law this morning – print industry employers' association PVCA is far from happy with it, but is committed to helping the industry as a whole, and individual print businesses, navigate through what could be difficult elements. It will run a special webinar the week after next.

The Print & Visual Communication Association hosted its EOY Event in Melbourne last night, with 100 of the merged entities' members and industry stakeholders celebrating the new found unity in print.

The contentious IR bill with its multi-employer bargaining stream looks set to pass into law, provoking warnings from business leaders of a return to 1970s style industrial relations and pattern bargaining.

PVCA is hosting a free end-of-year event next Tuesday, after work, in Melbourne, to network, celebrate the year that was, and discuss the challenges and opportunities for the new year.