Gympie businessman Mat Tawse explains why he left Brisbane for Gympie

The man behind the infamous reference to Paul Pisasale at the last Gympie Chamber of Commerce meeting explains just what he meant and says moving here was “a no-brainer”

Matt Tawse and Cat Childs say bringing their printing business to the Gympie region was a “no brainer”.

Printing presses and graphic design go hand-in-hand for invitations, cards and company branding.

But for Gympie businessman and printer Mat Tawse and designer Cat Childs the meeting of these two industries went hand-in-hand with family, too.

"It was a match made in heaven," Mr Tawse said.

This match led to the creation The Love Press, an online printing company the couple started in 2008 before packing it up from its original location in Brisbane and relocating it to Gympie.

This was in December 2019, right before COVID hit - but they stressed the pandemic was not the reason they hightailed it from the big city.

"We're not on the trendy bandwagon of getting out of the city; we like to think we started it." Mr Tawse said.

So what did draw them to the Gympie region?

Once again, it was family.

Matt Tawse and Cat Childs say bringing their printing business to the Gympie region was a “no brainer”. They followed Mr Tawse’s brother here in 2019.

"Matt's brother moved here ahead of us and we were really missing them, the nieces and nephews," Ms Childs said.

"They wanted to come here because of the rural aspect, and we just wanted to be close together," Mr Tawse said.

They do not regret the move.

"You can spend 45 minutes in traffic in Brisbane visiting a mate down the road, or you can be at Rainbow Beach," Mr Tawse said.

"It's a no-brainer.

"And the community here. It's such a cliche, everyone says 'oh the community here is so good' … but the community here is actually incredible."

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It was during one of these community events last month Mr Tawse caused a bit of a stir.

At the February Gympie Chamber of Commerce breakfast he suggested Mayor Glen Hartwig be more like former Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale when it came to promoting Gympie as its "salesman in chief", despite Mr Pisasale now being in jail form corruption and other offences.

Mr Hartwig shot down any suggestion he should be like Mr Pisasale, but Mr Tawse said while he understands the desire to back far away from any mention of the man's name he has no regrets about invoking it.

The business has been running online since 2008.

"No-one in their right mind is asking someone to be corrupt," Mr Tawse said.

"I know people from Gympie don't understand Paul Pisasale. I'm looking at it from a Brisbane point-of-view.

"Paul Pisasale was all over the media in Brisbane telling everyone … on the radio, in newsprint, through every channel possible how amazing Ipswich was.

"As a person in Brisbane who had only been to Ipswich once, that guy inspired me to go there.

"When you heard him on the radio you were sucked into how good a place Ipswich was.

"The point wasn't about Paul Pisasale (as a person) … but it's not the mayor's job, it's every businesses' job to promote the place.

"I tell every single person how awesome this place is.

"While... I think it's the mayor's job to be out in front of the media doing the sales pitch, creating a bit of leadership, it's also for businesses to do".

Originally published as Gympie businessman Mat Tawse explains why he left Brisbane for Gympie