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Fuji Xerox Wins Giant Same-Sex Australian Voting Print Job.
The federal government has awarded the multi-million-dollar printing contract for the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey to Fuji Xerox Document Management.
Almost 16 million survey forms will be sent out to all Australians on the electoral roll who are eligible to vote. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says the package will include a reply-paid envelope and instructions on how to complete the survey.
The ABS has yet to confirm details of the paperless option – available for people who are overseas, in hospital, homeless or living in remote areas – but the print job could involve four separate articles – an addressed envelope, the voting form, a set of instructions and the reply-paid envelope. Potentially, that could mean more than 50 or 60 million separate items, making it one of the largest-ever jobs in the industry.
The government estimated the voluntary postal plebiscite on same-sex marriage would cost taxpayers $122 million, while consultants PwC put the full cost at $525 million – $160 million for the ballot itself.
The ABS revealed its choice of printer in a statement to Print21.
The ABS has engaged Fuji Xerox Document Management for the provision of Mail House services. They are an existing contractor with the ABS and have the capacity and capability, as a single provider, to complete this project.
The printing process will be undertaken as high-speed digital inkjet printing.
The ABS is working closely with Australia Post to ensure that the survey forms are distributed to all eligible Australians and returned to the ABS in a timely manner.
Paper used in the survey was sourced from Australia and was produced with the endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) certification. It was sourced from certified managed forests.
Australian Paper, the only Australian manufacturer of office, printing and packaging papers, has confirmed its understanding that Australian made paper and envelopes will be used in the plebiscite.
The print contract is a huge vote of confidence in Fuji Xerox as it emerges from a $450 million accounting scandal at its Australasian subsidiaries. However, Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions, which always strives to maintain a low profile, especially when competing for printing work in the marketplace, has declined to comment.
Nick Debenham, CEO of Fuji Xerox DMS, contacted by phone, said: “I have no comment to make on that subject. So, thank you very much…” before hanging up.
Late yesterday, the company released a brief statement via email:
As our business with customers is conducted on a confidential basis we do not comment on these types of inquiries and therefore will not be commenting on your inquiry regarding the upcoming Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.
“There will be nearly 16 million survey forms but they won’t all be able to be sent on the one day,” Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann told The Conversation’s Michelle Grattan in a podcast earlier this week.
“So, it will be staggered. But it will be staggered very quickly,” said Cormann. “The ABS has advised me that they will be prioritising those areas where it might take a little bit longer to get the mail to and from. They will get all of it out as fast as they can.”
ABS Deputy statistician Jonathan Palmer said there were a number of options under consideration to ensure everyone who wanted to vote could do so. “It could be an online form, it could be a touch-tone telephone solution, it could be an SMS text message but we are still working out the best option for a paperless return.”
Australia Post has agreed to block offensive sex-same marriage campaign material after the postal workers’ union warned of a ‘heightened risk’ to the welfare of its members.
The national carrier said it would refuse to deliver any article which contains text or images which (in our reasonable opinion) do not meet current community standard and expectations, or may cause offence to a reasonable person, or contains material which is defamatory or offensive.
More information about the vote is available from ABS Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey
http://print21.com.au/fuji-xerox-wins-giant-same-sex-vote-print-job/146500
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