CEO's Message

The Packaging Council of Australia has been conducting packaging awards for nearly 25 years – a quarter of a century!

Longevity is one of the benchmarks of achievement and quality.

Let’s put this achievement in perspective – 25 years ago Bob Hawke was Prime Minister of Australia, Ronald Reagan was President of the U.S. while Chairman Brezhnev was still in power in the Soviet Union. The Cold War was alive and well!

In Australia, the minerals boom was just underway. Computers were a rarity - anyone suggesting they would be commonplace in homes by the turn of the century would have been regarded as a figure of derision.

Tariffs and protection were still a major feature of Australia’s economic life.

In short, it was altogether a different era - if not a different world - with life and business occurring at a much less frenetic pace than now.

As society has changed, so has packaging. The 1970s and 80s were the beginning of a period where the patterns of packaging began to change at an increasing rate as new materials became available, new processing methods developed and the packaging industry was forced to adapt its products to changing lifestyles and consumer demands.

The structure of the industry has also changed dramatically. Back then, packaging really had only one task - to contain, preserve and protect the product and to provide (limited) information about the contents. In today’s world, while this remains an essential requirement, packaging is required to do so much more.

Consumers want more from packaging - they want freshness, convenience, product sizes that fit their particular needs, easy opening but also child resistant closures and tamper evident devices, as well as minimal cost.

These Awards have also had to change and adapt with the times. We now conduct three sets of Awards - the Australian Packaging Awards for industry, the Southern Cross Package Design Awards for tertiary students and, the most recent addition, the National Schools Package Design Challenge for primary and secondary school students.

The continued success of these Awards is a tribute to all involved - participating and sponsoring companies, universities, TAFEs and schools, teachers, students and lecturers as well as the dedicated staff at the PCA. And let’s not forget the judges who are very dedicated and who perform a difficult task over several days. Many, many thanks to all!

The contribution of everyone involved neatly encapsulates the theme of this year’s Awards – Passion, Drive, Vision!

In all, over 90 companies entered the Australian Packaging Awards, 640 tertiary students registered for the Southern Cross Awards and over 4,000 students participated in the National Schools Challenge.

The packaging supply chain has an important role to play in Australia’s prosperity and well-being.

These Awards and the continuing support for them, demonstrate a long and ongoing commitment by the PCA and its members.

My thanks to everyone for their contribution and congratulations to the Award winners.

Gavin Williams
Chief Executive Officer