With 25 per cent representing roughly $31 million a year spent on advertising, the printing industry body has taken its concerns directly to Premier Nathan Rees, pointing out that the state government already uses less printing than NSW industry in general.

“Given the social, economic and environmental benefits associated with the printing medium, we recommended to the Premier that the NSW Government should be increasing the printing budget,” said Printing Industries’ chief executive, Philip Andersen (pictured).

Printing Industries claims that the cuts would result in roughly $9 million being taken out of the NSW Government’s printing budget, which could have a significant impact on the industry.

“Such a reduction would translate into economy wide output losses of more than $25 million and may result in the loss of up to 180 direct and indirect jobs in the printing and associated industries,” said Hagop Tchamkertenian, Printing Industries’ national manager for policy and government affairs.

As a result, Printing Industries has tabled a number of reasons it believes the government should “insulate” the print and outdoor media sector from the budget cut.

“We informed the Premier that paper and print are some of the most environmentally-friendly communications mediums,” said Andersen.

“We [also] highlighted the fact that because the printing and associated industries are geographically dispersed, they are important employers in both metropolitan and regional areas of NSW, offering employment opportunities and contributing to economic activity,” added Tchamkertenian.

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