Printers from around Australia gathered for Print to Parliament last night, a showing of the winning entries from the National Print Awards in Parliament House, with attendees being able to meet with politicians and raise industry issues.
A number of politicians were in attendance, including Wayne Swan MP, who gave an address, Senator Pauline Hanson, Tony Burke MP, Senator Eric Abetz, Senator David Leyonhjelm and Michael Sukkar MP, who also presented on the night.
The PIAA, which hosted the event, called it a success, with it being hopeful that it will become an annual occurrence.
Andrew Macaulay, CEO, PIAA, says, “Around 63 politicians came through, we had senior government ministers, crossbenchers and senior members of the opposition. The event was noteworthy because of the interaction between printers and politicians, they were engaged.
“There were three division bells, where politicians have to leave and vote on policy. Usually the bell rings, they leave and they are gone, they do not come back. At our event last night, politicians kept coming back.
“Our members are excited, they want it to happen again. We are the peak body, and it could become something we do annually. It was a culmination, in that we linked it with International Print Day and the National Print Awards and it was greatly successful.
“There were also paper suppliers, we had printers from the east coast and a delegate from WA, there was good representation for different areas.”
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Theo Pettaras, owner of Digitalpress and new member of the PIAA board adds, “It was the opportunity of a lifetime. I do not think anything like it has been done before. There were Labor MPs, Liberals, Greens, Independents, and they were all enthusiastic. Printers had a chance to get them all to listen to what we do, how we we do it and the difficulties we face.
“We had an opportunity to exchange business cards, so now we have that direct contact and dialogue with them. It was the aim of the night, which was to start a conversation.
“I met a lot of people there, and talked to different politicians. Pauline Hanson was there, she is quite grassroots herself. She listens, she empathises, she pays attention and someone like that can help our industry.”
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