Industry irate over work going to China

The Print & Visual Communications Association is up in arms over taxpayer-funded print that is still going to China while Australian presses sit idle as a direct consequence of the coronavirus Covid-19.

Taxpayer-funded institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria and the Queensland Art Gallery are sending major print contracts to China, with values in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for prestigious print jobs. Menawhile, printers across the country are facing a significant drop in orders as the economy contracts due to Covid-19.

Andrew Macaulay, CEO of PVCA said, “Australian taxpayers do not want their taxes funding Chinese enterprises while the printers in their own suburbs are struggling, and the people who work for those printers are struggling. Those hundreds of thousands of dollars should be going into the local economy, especially at this trying time, and not being shipped overseas.”

Macaulay said he is lobbying government to pressure the taxpayer funded institutions to switch the print orders to domestic suppliers.

He said, “Local printersd should be lobbying their local MPs. Let's make a noise about this. The local economy needs all the support it can get, and Australian taxpayer dollars should be gong to support Australian businesses and Australian workers. Write to your local MP.”