No anti-Australian print tendering – Publisher’s letter from magazine

By stating its belief that between 20 and 50 per cent of its print could be sourced overseas in the medium term and by requiring bidders to demonstrate a capability to do so, the nab effectively cut out from the bidding process all printers who only source print in Australia.

This is an outrageous mandate from a national company that has many printers among its customers, and one, which if allowed to go unchallenged, will ensure that all printing tenders from major corporations in the future will require a substantial element of overseas printing as an essential requirement for success. It is a slur against all local printing companies, a mindless exercise in ideological free trading, a prime example of corporate bastardry and something that would not be tolerated in any other part of the procurement process.

No one wants to stop companies or individuals from sourcing materials from wherever they want, including low labour cost countries such as China. While there may be many valid arguments to support a ‘buy Australian’ (or ‘buy New Zealand’) campaign, it is a free trading world with nothing to stop people sourcing the lowest price they can get. What is unacceptable is making overseas print an essential element, a sine qua non of the tendering process. Does the national bank do the same with its IT infrastructure? Its cleaning products? Its television commercials?

The National in response uses a weasel form of guaranteeing that its print will be supplied by an Australian print provider—not an Australian printer you’ll note. In other words, it believes it is covered by dealing with an Australian print management company that has overseas connections. However dodgy this may seem, it still does not exonerate it from unfairly eliminating companies that have the capacity to fufill the contracts but no desire to engage in offshore sourcing.

Buy Australian last?

This is a matter of urgent industry concern, supported by many voices and emails urging government action since it was first exposed here Tender outrage. Many printers are outraged at the initiative and calls for some form of protest action are growing every day. Philip Andersen, the new ceo of Printing Industries is on the record as saying a grass roots backlash against the National is quite likely.

What is required here is a public back-down and apology from the NAB, a clear statement that any printer who meets the real conditions of the tender—cost, quality and terms of delivery—regardless of the fact that they print and source all the products in Australia, will be eligible. Nothing can guarantee that the NAB will not still source much, if not most of its printing from overseas through a print manager, but at least local printers will be able to get a look at the terms and conditions, weigh up their own capacity to fulfil them and decide whether to have a go or not.

So what is to be done? Email the NAB and let them know what you think. Amanda Murray-Johnson is their corporate affairs manager amanda_j_murray-johnson@national.com.au. Talk with your colleagues and fellow printers about forming an action group. Lobby politicians of course and get in touch with Printing Industries to let them know your depth of feeling. Philip Andersen

A matter of this significance, which basically disenfranchises Australian printers, is sufficiently serious to warrant legislative intervention. It represents a restraint of trade, which if confined within the borders of Australia would be against the law. It ought to be made illegal to mandate that goods must be supplied from outside Australia, that any tender or its equivalent, i.e. a request for proposal, require as a condition of compliance a non-Australian component.

We pride ourselves as being the country of the ‘fair go’. And that’s what we demand.

Patrick Howard – Publisher Print 21