Print and Visual Communication CEO Andrew Macaulay says now more than ever with the economy in trouble government departments, and particularly local councils, must have all their print work done onshore.

Offshore production, particularly in China, has long been a bug bear of printers in Australia but now with the impact of the coronavirus having a disastrous impact on businesses across the country, it has been more pronounced.

The federal government has announced a second round of stimulus measures to aid the Australian economy with so far $66b directed to keeping businesses operating and staff employed during the coming tough month.

While the measures have been welcomed, Macaulay says the burning issue of offshore printing, particularly by government departments, remains a major problem.

“The real concern I’ve got right now is government bodies, primarily state governments, are still sending their printing overseas and to China of all places,” Macaulay told Sprinter.

“We are getting calls from printers all over the country that were getting business because China’s print had shut down and the government bodies were having to source domestic printers and all of a sudden China has opened up again so it has all gone back there.

“Now if we are spending taxpayer money and our economy is in trouble, government has a moral obligation to be spending that money in Australia and when  80 per cent of our industry are SMEs they absolutely have an imperative to be directing that spend into Australian businesses that have the capacity to deliver.”

Macaulay says he has communicated directly with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg about adopting an Australian first procurement policy but it is yet to have been acted upon.

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