Ex-manager slams Goprint closure as policy failure

Queensland's decision to exit commercial printing "raises alarming security concerns" but misses the real wastage, according to the union and a former manager.

The new Coalition government is closing the state-run printer, which is expected to lose $3.6 million this year.

However, former operations manager Michael Rowe claimed Goprint was efficient and said the real problem was duplication of printing capacity in other government departments.

For instance, the Queensland education department installed an Océ digital line with finishing equipment at a cost of around $500,000, he claimed, while a similar state of affairs was present in Health and Police.

"The Labor government allowed a culture of duplication. All these other nodes were flourishing, with machine utilisation of maybe 20-30% within Health and a little bit more in Education, but not much more," Rowe told ProPrint.

He said that the closure of Goprint was "cutting off the head" while allowing "these little hidden gems" of inefficiency to carry on.

"What the public doesn't realise is there are five or six other Goprints scattered throughout government departments making a loss that would add up to the same amount.

Rowe defended Goprint as having a culture of efficiency and said general manager Scott Albury was "very passionate and very careful about how he was spending the taxpayer's dollar".

"The collapse of Goprint was due to poor policy decision-making on George St, not efficiency."

Rowe said the operation had long been hamstrung because it had to compete on the open market for government work, but was forced to remain in expensive premises in Wollongabba and employ "five or six people to provide compliance to government".

Meanwhile, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said security would be a casualty of the closure.

Assistant state secretary, Danny Dougherty, said Goprint had a history of "[ensuring] that important state documents are printed properly and securely".

"[The government is] happy for important government documents to be printed anywhere, which raises alarming security concerns," he said.

However, the Minister for Public Works, Bruce Flegg, said "Goprint would continue to provide reserved services, such as bills and Hansards, which require a highly secure work environment".

Flegg has not yet revealed what will happen to Goprint's commercial printing assets, although the union said they would be "cut up and flogged off to the highest bidder" in violation of a pre-election commitment.

"The government will strip out the publicly owned assets of Goprint for the benefit of private sector, and then retain just a few workers and say it’s not privatisation," said Dougherty.

"That’s just sneaky and has been the Liberal National Party's tactics with Goprint all along."