Last week, the Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA) announced it had acquired training organisation Intech Australia from IPMG.

CLB managing director Gary Cobbledick said the PIAA had the right motives but said it was now a “competitor” that had “lost its independent voice”.

“The peak body has become partisan. It now faces a major conflict of interest as it cannot be a player and an umpire in the same game,” he told ProPrint.

“Any pronouncements the PIAA now makes about training need to be seen as the partisan pronouncements of a player fighting for market share and profit, just like every other player in the market.”

[Feature: How to get skills training back on track]

PIAA chief executive Bill Healey told ProPrint that the association would be able to “separate our policy role from our training role”, just as other industry associations do.

“This is managed in plenty of other industries and doesn’t lead to conflict,” he said.

“It won’t lead to a conflict on our part, because we’re clear the industry needs quality training, and if people choose to go to CLB or Print Training Australia, so be it.

“We want to make sure we increase the number of apprentices and the quality of training they get.

Both parties told ProPrint they wanted to work together constructively to ensure the best outcomes for print training.

[Related: More training news]

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter