The Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA) is assessing parties for how they will affect print, having published a political scorecard for the upcoming South Australia state election occurring this weekend.
The PIAA says it has created the comparison so members can evaluate the parties and their corresponding policies for themselves. The scorecard runs through each party's position on energy, education, taxation and the economy and infrastructure.
Andrew Macaulay, CEO of the PIAA says, “PIAA advocates for good policy for our industry, regardless of political party. We have engaged every main party about the key policies they bring to the election and determined how they may impact our industry.
“To provide practical information that is easy to digest, we compiled an election scorecard. It provides our own top-level policy objectives, what each Party’s policy is, and subjectively measures how favourable those policies are towards industry.
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“We have talked to our members and asked them about what are the most important issues and policy positions to them. The top priorities for printers right now are energy, infrastructure and education. We also talked to the different parties and asked them what their policy was on those issues and some of them had good policy, some of them did not have an answer.
“South Australia needs reliable energy, it needs to be consistent and to have lower costs. This is the biggest issue for South Australians, the reliability and cost of electricity. Politicians need to step up and stop playing around in this area. They are creating third world problems in a first world country and it is costing the economy jobs.
“VET training is a major issue in for the industry in South Australia, the government killed it a couple of months ago. The Greens got the highest rating there because they are planning to reverse that policy action by Labor. The current government says it will reinstate it, but they the ones who cut it.
“SA also has massive unemployment. The industry needs workers and the training needs to be there for skills that employers need, and for people looking to switch industries.
[Related: PIAA: printers should demand energy action]
“Businesses need reliable VET training. The PIAA is working hard in this area, we had a victory recently for the industry in Tasmania, with their apprentices now going to Holmesglen. We are chasing VET training now in SA and are engaging with the federal government at this moment.
“Good infrastructure is also key to businesses and the economy.”
Among other issues the PIAA prioritised were tax, which it says need to be a reduced burden on small business with lower compliance costs and infrastructure with the government and companies buying local and upgrading transport in both urban and regional areas.
“We have had positive feedback from SA printers on the scorecard. I had a happy call from a member this morning thanking us for laying out the policies clearly and they said it would help them address their local member.”
The election takes place on March 17. SA voters can download the PIAA’s election scorecard here.
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