中文Australia’s print industry is sounding the alarm over its future workforce. Print businesses large and small are being urged to complete the Industry Workplace Planning Survey now, to protect print apprentices’ place on the federal government’s Priority List, a status that carries significant financial benefits for both apprentices and employers.
The Visual Media Association warns that without compelling data to present to government, print apprentices may drop off the Priority List, with seriously detrimental consequences. Being listed provides a host of financial supports, and young people choosing between apprenticeships will naturally gravitate toward those with more backing. If print falls off the list, employers will find it harder to attract new entrants.
Kellie Northwood, CEO of the VMA, did not mince words. ‘This is a critical moment for our industry. We have been advised that our position is at risk and, if we want government to understand why print and related manufacturing occupations must continue to be recognised and supported, we need the evidence to demonstrate it,’ she said. ‘We have fought once before and had our industry reinstated; it is time to do this again.’ Government, she stressed, cannot respond to anecdote alone, it needs current data on where vacancies exist, how long positions stay unfilled, the occupations businesses will need, and the difficulty of finding skilled people.
The timing is tight. The Federal Government is reforming the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System, including changes to the methodology behind the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, which take effect from 1 January next year. Historically the list has included printing-related qualifications such as Certificate III in Printing, Certificate III in Print Binding, Finishing and Packaging, and Certificate III in Prepress Graphic Design Production, exactly the credentials the VMA believes must be reinstated.
The survey follows discussions between Northwood, Federal Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles, and the CEO of the Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance, reinforcing how important robust workforce data is to the sector’s case. It examines vacancies across occupations including print finishing, graphic pre-press, printing machinists, digital and screen printing, small offset printing, paper and paper products machine operators and other production roles, plus future recruitment needs, vacancy duration, recruitment channels and applicant quality.
Previous VMA research, supported by Ricoh Australia, found that more than three-quarters of businesses had vacancies across key occupations, while 94 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with applicants’ skills and experience. The new survey is designed to provide current evidence of where those pressures remain and how workforce requirements are expected to develop. Ricoh Australia is again supporting the effort; Tina Economou, its chief sales and marketing officer and recently appointed managing director, said reliable industry data is increasingly important for planning. ‘Good industry decisions start with good industry data,’ she noted.
Northwood stressed participation must extend beyond VMA members. ‘This is not a membership survey. This is an industry survey,’ she said, urging every business in the sector, employing five or 500 people, to contribute. The VMA’s submission will only be as powerful as the data behind it, and failure to demonstrate demand risks decisions made on incomplete information, with consequences flowing directly to apprenticeship support and training pathways.
For an industry built on craft and machinery alike, the message is simple, complete the short survey, because it can genuinely shape the policy position taken to Canberra and protect the skilled workers print businesses need.
Source: Based on reporting from Print21.
The urgency is rooted in a structural skills crisis. Across printing and visual media, an ageing workforce is retiring faster than it is being replaced, and too few young people see print as a viable, modern career. When qualifications slip off the Priority List, the financial incentives that might attract apprentices evaporate, compounding the problem for years.
The VMA’s data-driven approach reflects a maturing industry advocacy. Rather than relying on anecdote, the association is building an evidence base, supported by Ricoh Australia, that quantifies vacancies, time-to-fill and applicant quality. That evidence strengthens its case to government at a moment when the Apprenticeships Incentive System is being redesigned. The previous reinstatement shows the strategy can work, but it requires broad participation; a survey dominated by a few large firms will not represent the sector’s true shape.
For individual businesses, the stakes are practical. Shops unable to hire trained machinists, finishers and pre-press operators face stalled growth, missed deadlines and rising reliance on expensive contract labour. Smaller firms, often without dedicated HR or government-relations capacity, stand to lose the most if the list is trimmed, which is why Northwood’s call extends beyond VMA members to the whole industry. Completing a short survey is a low-cost action with potentially high leverage, shaping the policy position taken to Canberra and, ultimately, the pipeline of skilled workers on which every print business depends. The future of the sector’s workforce may well hinge on how many operators bother to respond.
