How much Aussie does it take to be Australian Made

Unbeliever says:

09:44am | 18/07/09

This article misses a very important aspect of ‘Australian Made’ goods and that’s the environmental damage and sustainability of living on food made overseas.

Xenophon’s proposing to look at a solution, so that when people are looking to buy Australian made, then they know exactly when is australian made. What’s wrong with that?

Remember the 80s 90s campaign on australian made that went dead silent as soon as industry realised that there are huge profits to be made by manufacturing overseas?

D.West says:

10:22am | 18/07/09

Kate this article sounds like a worried press release from the mega-food companies. Nick must be hitting the mark hey? Putting your spin aside, Consumers want more information, even “complex” information about what & where ingredients come from, even if that is put onto websites. We have that right.

I for instance, want to know what substandard ingredients are coming in from certain third world countries countries. I will pay 30% - 50% extra for non-cage eggs - but I don’t trust the labelling anymore. I don’t even trust the heart foundation tick labelling after a they dodgelily ticked high sugar drinks posing as a “fruit juice”.  Consumers having trust in your industry and labelling might actually be good for business Kate? Good food always sells well.

Some of us don’t share your convenient faith in the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code and Trade Practices Act, or “toothless tiger” the ACCC.

Give me the information, I will make my own mind up.

ab says:

12:36pm | 18/07/09

Xenephon is arguing for transparency. 
The Made in Australia logo is meant to provide consumers with a bit more knowledge about where the product is made.  If it’s too hard for your mega-food companies to state where each part of their product comes from then too bad.
AS an example Cadbury could say “made in Tassie using Australian milk and sugar, and cocoa picked by slaves in the third world.”  But they won’t.

Rationalist says:

02:24pm | 18/07/09

Oh great, now I am hungry.

Brad says:

08:58pm | 18/07/09

Australian Made, is meaningless to me now. Back in the 80’s sure it meant something. But now it is a global economy where we (Australia) sell off raw materials, tourism and education. But we import most consumer goods (electronics, toys, light bulbs, white goods). So what, they are good at what they can do and we are good at what we can do. I’m not going to pay an extra 30% from my wages to support some company I don’t know just because they are “Australian”. Hell my family is Australian too and we could you that extra 30% in our lives. Price is King!

Robert Cameron says:

10:25pm | 18/07/09

Australians dont care ! Does Australia actually own any of its logos ?
I own Proudly Australian!!!

pete brooks says:

07:08am | 19/07/09

True ‘ab’ the food cartels have shown that they don’t want transparency - they even puppeted Rudd into dropping the Grocery Choice website so we couldn’t compare grocery prices. Classic Anti-Competition. I’ve heard reports that Cocoa production in some parts of Africa uses child slavery. I don’t want to support that or the attitudes of arrogant 18th Century food corporations you represent.  Hang your heads in shame.

miantiao says:

03:11pm | 19/07/09

Australians are being proverbialled by the food cartels, one of which boasts of pride in being Australian, well done that punter.

Not only are we slugged with the biggest retail markups in the developed world, according to a recent report,  but our farmers are being paid less and less for their produce.

Hey dad, look what we can do, control supply costs and retail prices. If Billy sells lemons to Danny for a higher price we buy up the remainder of his lemons, sell our lemonade heaps cheaper until Danny goes broke, lift our prices and set them higher than before our little war, and pressure Danny to cut his supply costs on the next crop because i’m his only customer. Well me an Slick from across town, we shook hands and began working together, same plan as mine, we even get cheaper lemons, and agree on how much we can get for our lemonade.

Crikey! Well done son, you’ve got a real talent for business haven’t ya mate!

Hey look what they’re trying to do dad.
Yeah mate, they’re not playing by the same rules as everyone else.
What’s that son?
Yeah, pretty much mate I think. They reckon that because its a Govt owned mob, they might use politics, or some other other shady ways that are bit ‘how do you do?’ to try ‘n’ control supply costs.  Most experts reckon that guy’s arrest in Shanghai pretty much proves the doubters right. They’re trying to control ore prices to the mills.

Deborah says:

06:39pm | 19/07/09

Kate Carnell attacking the community on behalf of industry.

I agree with most commenters here. I want the labelling to reflect what i purchase, I don’t want to be hoodwinked into buying something i don’t wish to use or eat because the law does not force truth in labelling.

I want to know if my food is genetically modified and exactly what percentage is grown in Australia and the conditions of workers in the country of origin, it’s not hard to do.

Big business in their pursuit of profits should not be allowed to dictate what, if any, information is made available to consumers.

Are we ever going to get decent consumer protection in this country?

pete b says:

08:42pm | 19/07/09

Like a bunch of blind drug addicts,the companies you represent also willy-nilly degrade humans last line of defense against a range of fatal diseases -antibiotics- in growing beef, chicken etc. Why? Because selfishly you arn’t interested in protecting a medical miracle, even for your children, you just want big bling profits, now. You need a logo for ‘Aussie Ethics’ not ‘Australian Made (Porkies)’. And someone credible to run it.

Phil Wallach says:

11:37am | 28/07/09

It is pretty lame to hide behind the “too hard” excuse.  What you are saying is that because it is so hard to make stuff that is purely made from Australian produce, we should label stuff as Australian-made when it isn’t.

That is ridiculous.

It would be better that nothing was labelled Autralian-made.  Then perhaps we could see the real problem.  It is not that people are not buying Australian.  It is that manufacturers are not making Australian.

Brett Watson says:

04:39pm | 07/10/09

The terms “Australian Made” and “Australian Owned” do not reveal the actual Australian level of inputs and are in fact quite Un-Australian in their usage requirements. To remedy this problem a new “Australian Authenticity Logo” has been unveiled. Visit http://www.ozcompliance.com.au to see what is behind the labels and logos such as Australian Made. 

Oz Compliance makes a qualified statement as to the Australian level of inputs for Content, Ownership, Manufacture and its Packed Status. Truth in labelling has a name and it is Oz COMPliance.

Consumers have the right to know where their Food and Goods come from. Without Oz Compliance they cannot make an informed choice, regardless if it is a health choice, a cost choice, a patriotic choice or one of principle.

OzCOMPliance is the answer to providing a reasonable basis upon which to compare any two items. It provides a means of comparison that gives a truthful impression which in itself, makes it unlike any other Country of Origin label (COOL) or similar “Trust Mark” that we are all familiar with

By looking for the OzCOMPliance Logo, you can see for yourself just how much of any item is actually Australian by the stated percentage scores for Content, Owned, Made and Packed.

Truth, however disenchanting is better than falsehood, however comforting. -Schweitzer

Mary says:

08:30am | 10/12/11

I prefer to purchase meat, smallgoods, vegetables, fruit and dairy products are totally grown and produced in Australia, because we can produce these item in abundance in Australia and know they are more healthy - also production can provide employment for our people. I don’t have unreal expectations, I realize our country doesn’t produce items such as cocoa and the like.  I just want to buy food that is genuinely labelled “produced in Australia”, which I find not accurate at present.