The Printing Industries Association of Australia has evaluated the main political parties in the Qld elections, based on how their policy platform aligns with industry.

The Labor Party, Coalition, Greens, and One Nation parties are listed, with ticks if policy aligns with Printing Industries, and question marks where they do not. Only the Greens and One Nation did not align with print along the board.

Andrew Macaulay, CEO, Printing Industries says the association will be holding the parties to their promises, particularly in relation to buying local Australian goods, particularly print.

“In Queensland, in this election, purportedly it is the policy of all parties to buy local. We will be testing the politicians on that, and are seeking input from members whether they have examples of politicians, governments, and parties that buy local.

“We will hold them to account for that. You cannot say one thing and do another. We have Australian paper, we have Australian printers, and we should be seeing them used locally. Particularly when they are holding that claim out in the election cycle. We are investigating, and will record it if they do not.”

Printing Industries has stepped up its government lobbying efforts, and is trying to mobilise members to speak with a united voice, making its presence felt.

Macaulay says, “The advantage is that the printing sector has a voice in parliament, politicians have now heard us, and there is a member of our association in every single state and federal electorate. One in each electorate would be printing the local’s material. We are tooling up the industry to use the position of strength to influence our political policy leaders, and policy.

“We have letters from four government ministers in Queensland in response to questions we had on policy, and a handwritten note from another asking us to stay in touch.

“We are definitely being asked for our own judgement.”

Tom Eckersley, managing director, Eckersley Group says, “I think the initiative is a good start. On a couple of fronts, it aligns our industry with policy positions that any particular party may or may not take. I think that is a good thing in connecting our industry with different political factions, particularly when we take it to the next level.

“For example, I circulated it around to my own staff, and they can make their own decisions. It is a powerful start. Obviously there are social and other matters that people will vote based on, but these are specific to industry.

“I was surprised by some of the parties’ policies. One had a stronger apprentice scheme incentive than I expected. I was not sure on one or two, in which there were ticks, but the lack of comment made me think there was no official stated comments.

“I think it is a start, if it becomes a tried on an ongoing basis I am sure government and industry will align their responses in the key areas various industries are looking at.

“Three of the four parties are committed to abolishing or cutting payroll tax. That makes for a good platform to push that conversation forward. It is a difficult tax for a lot of SMEs, we are all trying to grow. It is good to see they are in agreement going forward.

“For me it is a big issue. I bought another business last year, so it became an $80,000 issue for me after the second business purchase.”

The scorecards are currently being put together for the upcoming Victoria election, with Macaulay noting that the federal government will also be covered.

“It is a new initiative of Printing Industries. We were getting calls about what the policy of this or that party, or asking us to influence something. So I saw it as an opportunity to go back to members with something of value they could use.

“It is a-political, we are not advocating any party against another, we are analysing the party policies as to how they fit in with the interests of the print sector.

“To that extent we are saying they either recognise this objective or they do not.”

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