The PIAA has called for restrictions on parallel book importing, an end to Australia Post’s printing operations, and government assistance in its submission to the Competition Policy Review.

The review is the first comprehensive examination of Australia’s competition laws and policy in 20 years, and is aimed at boosting waning productivity levels and ensuring laws are operating properly.

PIAA chief executive Bill Healey says the review should accept that not all industries are the same and that there are legitimate areas for government assistance in areas like printing.

“There needs to be a degree of pragmatism not just ideology here. Our industry is going through consolidation and it’s a complex situation that’s not the same as many others,” he says.

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Healey highlighted regulations on parallel book importing, which currently restricts overseas book imports to 14 days after it is first published in Australia – providing some protection for local industry.

“The restrictions should be maintained because many of Australia’s top book printers like Opus and SOS have recently invested in new equipment that will make them more competitive,” he says.

“This fits with the overarching theme of the Commission of Audit 'that limited assistance to areas of genuine market failure and occasional transitional assistance to deal with genuine structural change is justified when the benefit of government intervention outweighs the costs'."

“This was already reduced from 30 days, which printers have adjusted to with fast turnaround digital printers and better efficiency, but if it was removed altogether it would be harmful to the industry and at least require an appropriate adjustment time and compensation.”

The PIAA also hit out at government competitive neutrality, especially Australia Post’s PostConnect, which is increasingly competing with printers.

“It is not rational for Australia Post to enter that market and its presence there is harmful to our industry as it has a competitive advantage,” he says.

"It is entering markets where there is already substantial over capacity and where this over capacity is not expected to change in the foreseeable future, if ever.

"Our concern is that AP is using its market and monopoly power to either damage or eliminate others in the market and hence lessen competition in the printing market.

"Specifically as well AP is engaged in predatory pricing. It may also be cross subsidising from its reserved services to markets where it is open to competition."

The submission also took the opportunity to call for greater ACCC oversight of Australia Post, especially for bulk mail price rises.

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Healey also agreed with the Australian Industry Group’s call today for a legislative ban on industry-wide pattern agreements, which set wages and conditions across an entire industry, which have been rare since print union power was crushed during the 1980s.

“These agreements are nothing more than massive price-fixing schemes that fix the price of labour across entire industries,” the industry body says.

“They are not in the community’s interests and should be stamped out.”

Healey says the current enterprise bargaining agreement system works and industry-wide agreements are a throwback to centralised wage deals that have long since been phased out in printing.

“It is totally inconsistent with the current philosophy of employment relations and confirmed by every government since Keating,” he says.

Healey says he believes the government is committed to rebalancing industry to help small business better operate and grow in the marketplace.

“There is a sense of futility among business owners about where to go to solve a problem,” he says.

“Small operators don’t have a lot of avenues and the ACCC doesn’t have enough resources to do much.

“Also there needs to be fewer technicalities in competition laws because small business finds that difficult to deal with.”

Submissions closed on June 10 and the review panel will now write a draft report for further public consultation.

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