has its voice heard on government roundtable

Philip Andersen, CEO of Printing Industries, was among a select group of 20 manufacturing representatives invited to attend the meeting with Ian Macfarlane, federal minister for industry.

The meeting was part of a collaborative effort to set the future policy direction for Australian industry and maintain the country's present economic momentum over the next 10 years.

Andersen said that the print packaging and visual communication industry faced many challenges in its transition from primarily a craft based industry into a communications solutions service provider in a dynamic technology focussed environment.

“We have an ageing business owner demographic profile and ongoing industry rationalisation. Both would benefit from government sponsored succession planning encouraging an orderly transfer of ownership and industry rationalisation for those seeking those options,” he said.

“This would need to be supported by an industry adjustment package geared to helping printing companies either exit the industry or adopt new technologies and business models.”

Andersen said this need was identified in the Australian Government backed Print21 Action Agenda more than five years ago and illustrated a weakness in Action Agendas where government funding to help implement the recommendations was crucial but was not provided.


“The Print21 Action Agenda five years after its launch still remains 'a work in progress' with a number of recommendations not yet implemented due to funding constraints. This needs to move along,” he said.


Mr Andersen told the meeting that Free Trade Agreements, a business reality, needed to ensure that Australian industry was not disadvantaged.

“FTA partners must face similar regulatory frameworks as those faced by local industry.”


He said an area of competitive advantage that the government need to support was the environment.

“This is an area where Australian industry can establish a competitive advantage. Environmental Accreditation needs government support to enable business to undertake programs such as the Printing Industry Environmental Principles.

Others issues raised included supply chain programs, export grants, Austrade services to better help identify commercial opportunities, expanded research programs and research and development funding for industry, regulatory reform and sectoral assistance since generic government programs prove inadequate meeting sectoral needs.


Andersen said he welcomed the opportunity to promote the industry as the core communication medium for products and services. He said he looked forward to future opportunities to raise the industry's profile and provide input into government decision making.