This year’s meeting between printers and federal politicians will be an online live streamed event, as Covid caution precludes the usual Canberra face-to-face gathering.

The latest issue of the print industry’s biggest trade magazine, Print21, is out, with the feature-packed issue currently arriving on desks of print business owners and managers around Australia and New Zealand.

Jamestrong Packaging Australia CEO Alex Commins says manufacturing is a key to recovery and growth and has welcomed announcements surrounding the future of manufacturing contained in the federal government's new Modern Manufacturing Strategy.

The latest Covid initiative from Durst sees the manufacturer of advanced digital printing and production technologies launch a Covid-countering air disinfection system: the Durst UVC-R.

The biggest story in print in the last seven days was the Print21 budget story, which reported to the industry on the extraordinary measures treasurer Josh Frydenberg is taking to pull the country out of the Covid recession.

The Covid budget means that all capital equipment in the printing industry is now discounted at either 27.5 per cent or 30 per cent in the year it is purchased, as treasurer Josh Frydenberg turbo-charged the instant asset write off, ditching the previous cap in favour of the full value of the equipment.

Industry response to the 2020 budget is mixed, with some hailing the measures as good for the print industry, others more cautious, and some lamenting what they said were missed opportunities.

In the biggest business-boosting budget in Australia's history, federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a $35bn programme designed to help beleaguered businesses, including printers, get back on their feet following the Covid pandemic, as part of a larger $98bn government stimulus.

There are two recent examples of new technology that are harbingers of where the graphics industry is heading in automation and leaner businesses, controlled and managed for optimum efficiency with minimised emissions and waste, writes print environmentalist Laurel Brunner.

Mary is the pet name given to a direct-to-garment printer that not only kickstarted one man's entry into digital printing, but is also taking him on a growth journey and causing a stir in the Freemantle Markets of WA.

Packaging producer, printer and recycler Visy achieved record growth in August, driven, it says, by consumers switching from plastic packaging to carton, aluminium, and glass.

Lobbying from employers' organisation PrintNZ and other associations has resulted in the government providing $4m in emergency funding for hard pressed community newspapers and magazines.

Industry suppliers' association Visual Connections is backing the Insight Series created by TRMC to counter anti-print claims, following the decision by Coles to stop its catalogues.

Yohei Konaka has taken on the role of managing director of Konica Minolta Australia, effective immediately, succeeding David Cooke, following a delay in taking the role due to Covid-19.

The biggest story in the print industry this week was the Print21 article on the owner of Express Print & Mail signing for its new premises, two months before he sold the business to his mother, and then put the company that had owned it into liquidation with debts of $4m.

The country’s biggest magazine publisher has been rebranded, Are Media is the new name for what was Bauer Media, with the company committing to print as part of its future investment and development.