Competition is coming back in Perth’s print newspaper market with the imminent commissioning of a newly-installed all-colour press in the WA city.

Perth free distribution publisher Post Newspapers is securing its future with the installation of a 24-unit six-tower Goss Community imported from North America, and hopes to add contract work to production of its own hefty 50,000 weekly.

Since Ive Group’s closure of the former Fairfax Media/ACM print site at Mandurah and News’ earlier closure of Perth Print, Seven West Media’s Osborne Park plant has been the only newspaper printer in town.

One consequence of that has been the much-publicised closure of the WA print edition of the Australian Financial Review, which Nine Entertainment acquired as part of Fairfax. But there are suggestions that Nine was “still assessing” its online-only stance.

Ive picked up the manroland-equipped hybrid Mandurah plant in 2020 as part of a five-year, $100 million print and distribution deal with ACM, but ACM’s decision to close four of its regional mastheads ahead of that – blaming production costs – prompted the premature closure.

News Corp Australia closed its own Perth Print operation – powered by two double-width manroland presses – after selling its Sunday Times newspaper to Seven West in 2016.

SWM’s West Australian Newspapers prints its own daily West Australian and other work – including its regional mastheads – on two linked hybrid KBA lines at the Osborne Park print site. Lately that had grown to include remaining work from Mandurah and Perth Print… and Post Newspapers.

Established by current owner Bret Christian as a monthly in 1977, Post is now a 50,000-circulation weekly with a strong position in Perth’s prosperous western suburbs. This week, The Australian’s Paul Garvey even called it, “arguably Perth’s most-loved newspaper”.

Loved by advertisers and readers sufficiently to support an edition of 96 tabloid pages, a substantial product to print in-house. But Christian told GXpress that printing Post in two sections will still leave them six-and-a-half days free for other work.

Funding for the project has come from Post resources “and some supportive local business people.

“You might be surprised at the support we have received,” he said, adding that there had been a number of approaches from prospective print customers.

Planning for the new press began two years ago, with the closure of the Mandurah print site posing “an existential threat” to the Post and other independent media in the state, and leading to the closure of two country newspapers.

The modern, automated Community is being supplied by US-based ImPressions Worldwide, and is part of a nine-unit hybrid used until recently to print a Canadian daily newspaper. It is complemented by Kodak CTP.

One Post reader, quoted by press supplier ImPressions Worldwide, wrote: “I was delighted to read on the front page that the Post has bought its own press. After damn near 50 years I was dead scared we were going to lose a unique and wonderful little newspaper that has never been afraid to state its views, not to mention those of its many dedicated letter writers… I hope you guys can turn a profit from your obviously substantial investment, and perhaps enable the re-emergence of the lots of local newspapers around the state that we’ve lost.”

Plans to commence inhouse production are well on schedule, and as the installation approached print trials, Bret Christian told us he was hopeful the new press might be printing Post weekly in about a month.

Given the importance of independent production to publlishers all over the world, it’s a development we at GXpress salute.

Peter Coleman

Pictured: Installation of the Goss press at Post Newspapers, and (below) Bret Christian with editor Bonnie Christian and staff outside the Post’s offices in Shenton Park (photos Post Newspapers, with thanks)