Three out of every four print business in the country are currently suffering from labour shortages, according to an industry-wide survey carried out by employers’ association PVCA. And a whopping 94% of job applicants don't have the levels of skills or experience required.

As the new IR bill is now law, Print21's resident lawyer Wal Abramowicz says employers need to ensure their employment contracts and enterprise bargaining agreements comply with the new regulations, otherwise they could be hit with hefty fines.

The federal government has just backflipped on its decision to dump the print pamphlet for the upcoming Voice referendum, and will now print and mail one to all 9.3 million households in Australia. The decision comes after a strong campaign by print employers' association PVCA.

PVCA is urging government to include print across all communications related to the Voice referendum, as the executive looks to ditch the printed pamphlet from a referendum for the first time in 100 years.

The first issue of the nation’s biggest print industry magazine Print21 is in the mail and on the way to the desks of the owners and managers of all types of print businesses in Australia and New Zealand.

As print businesses face an unpredictable year, Stephen Gamble, from mental health advocates Man Anchor, says mental resilience can be built if we train our brains, just as we build physical resilience by training our bodies.

In a major win for the industry, print apprentices are back on the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, following 12 months of intense lobbying by industry employers association PVCA.

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.