Paul Keating used to say that when you change the government you change the nation and he was right. It’s been seven months since Tony Abbot became Prime Minister and things are changing.

One thing I’m personally pleased to see is the refusal of the new government to indulge in industry protection. Or at least an effort to reduce it.

Government subsidies to industries are scams run by companies looking to take easy dollars from taxpayers and their competitors. There is an argument that the government dollars buy local jobs – but at what cost? A blackmailer will never go away and companies on the public teat will keep coming back and ransoming their employees’ jobs in return for an easy ride courtesy of the taxpayer. And if you don’t believe me, look how quickly Holden and Toyota disappeared when the tax tap was turned off. The money sent to Detroit and Tokyo would have been better spent here on education or building infrastructure so our competitive people and industries can thrive.

Something I’ve always been proud of in our industry is that we’re not protected or subsidised. We stand on our own two feet and compete, and if we win a job, we’ve won it fair and square.

There’s an exception to this in the book printing industry but their case is really unique in that their existence is linked to the health of the domestic publishing industry so we’ll leave them out of it.

In fact when you look at our industry against the protected industries who are struggling, a really interesting thing occurs – despite the problems we’ve faced over the last few years, we look really really good.

Yes our product is out of favour for many and volumes are declining. And yes what we are politely calling ‘industry consolidation’ is still going gangbusters. But how we are reacting should be a model for all the protected industries.

We’re not trying to save uneconomic companies – we’re letting them go and in some cases banding together to force them out.

And instead of complaining to government about how hard it is to be in business, we’re changing the way we do business to suit the times. Blue Star is getting into augmented reality, Snap is selling design only franchises, companies with friendly owners are merging, we’re all adapting to digital and every month a new trade-only printer appears or a new trade product is launched.

This is all great stuff. It means that our biggest printers will be around for a long time and help develop products what will keep all of us relevant. The rise of the trade printers means that smaller companies no longer have to buy a press and contribute to the overcapacity problem. Friendly mergers make for stronger companies and more secure jobs.

I feel for the people in the protected industries but whenever I see them asking for another handout I can’t help but think of them as three printers next door to each other who all want government help to keep their 10-colours and full binderies open, when one press and one bindery would be better for them and better for the country as a whole.

It is tough being in print and it’s not going to get any easier, but the tough times and hard work will pay off for us. When the government protection is inevitably withdrawn from the subsidised industries, they will all wish they had done the hard yards we have done.

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