Labelling reform champion forms alliance to support family businesses

Australian Made Campaign chief executive Ian Harrison said it made sense for the two organisations to be aligned because they both shared the same goals. The not-for-profit Australian Made Campaign has pushed a popular labelling reform agenda that led to the federal government to further consult on the labelling proposal.

Collective effort with synergies​

“The more we collaborate to help support Aussie growers and manufacturers, the better their chances of succeeding will be. The Australian Made Campaign is very much a collective effort, so the more businesses involved, the stronger the impact​,” Harrison said.

Approximately 70% of Australian businesses are family businesses, many of which manufacture and grow the products they sell in Australia.

Family Business Australia chief executive Robin Buckham said the groups expected to expand on and develop on new synergies.

“Leveraging heritage and country-of-origin branding can provide Australian businesses with powerful competitive advantages, and both organisations provide businesses with marketing tools to help them capitalise on those assets​,” she said.

Label reform on the agenda​

A study by Roy Morgan Research has shown that Australian shoppers increasingly want to buy locally made and grown goods, and the desire to support local businesses plays a key role in that.

Earlier this month, the government decided to approach stakeholders and undertake consumer research into country-of-origin labelling. 

“Australian Made has submitted comment to and appeared before a number of government committees on country-of-origin labelling in recent years and it is great to finally see traction in this important area of government policy​,” Harrison said at the time.

It is believed a formal recommendation on changes to the current labelling laws will be made to the federal cabinet in August, along with proposals for what the new symbol will look like.