Food packaging outfit SPC has become the first Australian company to mandate all staff be vaccinated against Covid, in a move that will likely open the floodgates to many more businesses following the same path, and which raises a host of legal and ethical questions.

The Bacon Factory, which is the primary letterpress educator and advocate in Queensland, is being evicted, and given less than four weeks to vacate its premises, and is now seeking industry support to carry on its mission, from a mobile basis.

As the Covid crisis escalates the NSW state government is running webinars to show small businesses how to access support and relief in lockdown. The next webinar runs on Wednesday.

Canberra is in lockdown, Melbourne has had its lockdown extended for another seven days, while Dubbo has joined the regional NSW LGAs in lockdown, which now includes all of of Sydney, the Hunter and Upper Hunter, Armidale, Tamworth, Byron Bay, and Cairns in Queensland. Printers can still print if they are compliant with Covid restrictions, but NSW police now have the power to close down non-compliant businesses.

A cyber attack can be your worst nightmare. Your data destroyed, or held hostage until you stump up big dollars to have it released. Stickman Cyber founder Ajay Unni outlines the basic requirements every printer should be adhering to.

The latest issue of the print industry’s leading trade magazine Print21 is arriving on the desks of the owners and managers of print businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

The finalists who will represent Queensland in the Visual Connections-LIA National Scholarship Biennial Awards were revealed at the Queensland Printing Industry Creativity Awards in Brisbane.

Agfa Graphics has appointed Phillip Burns as the new sales manager for its Australian inkjet business, with a focus on growth outside traditional users as new technology comes on stream.

Soar Print managing director Fred Soar is the new president of the New Zealand print association PrintNZ, with Jill Cowling, CEO, Blue Star, and Morgan John, GM at Spicers, also joining the board.

Good news for the NSW sign and display industry, with the State Department of Education approving funding for training that will formalise the skills and knowledge of signage staff who lack formal qualifications, in a fee-free programme.

The Real Media Collective (TRMC) has secured a win for the industry, with the reinstatement of Schedule X for all printers, following submission during the recent lockdowns.

The print industry showed its generous heart, using a GoFundMe page to rally around the young family of Sydney printer Adrian ‘Aido’ McManis, who sadly succumbed to his cancer last Wednesday, raising $45,000 in just a few days.

TRMC says Woolworths' commitment to multi-channel marketing is a win for the retailer, which saw its net profit jump by a quarter during the pandemic, and for print, which continued to prove its value.

Print people around Sydney and further afield are being asked to come together and chip in through a GoFundMe page to support the family of popular local printer Aido McManis, as he sadly passed away today.

Print industry employers association PVCA saw its membership income fall by a third in the last 12 months, as Covid caused printers to keep all the cash they could.

Smart factories are on their way, with print set to be one of the beneficiaries from the coming together of data, the internet and robotics, reports Print21 senior journalist Jan Arreza.