Chinese imports: Australians want to stop manufacturing reliance

There has been a 300 per cent increase in traffic to the Australian Made website and social media sites amid the COVID-19 crisis with calls to stop reliance on China and boost home made manufacturing.

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Almost every Australian ­believes the coronavirus crisis should “serve as a wake-up call” to boost manufacturing at home and reduce reliance on imports from China.

A new YouGov survey found that 88 per cent of Aussies agreed “we should be making more essential products here and be less reliant on imports from China”.

The survey, conducted for the Australian Workers Union, also found that 82 per cent of people believe governments should use homemade products such as Aussie steel on infrastructure projects — even if it costs more.

“Australian-made building materials are not only top quality, they’re globally competitive but it’s pretty telling that, even if they weren’t, four out of five people would want their infrastructure built from Aussie-made materials anyway,” AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said.

“Now more than ever Australians want to be making our essential­ products here. We don’t want to be reliant on China. And we want Aussie infrastructure to be built from Aussie steel, aluminium­, glass, and cement.”

The survey found 98 per cent of older people and 77 per cent of those aged between 18 and 34 agreed that local manufacturing must be stepped up to reduce our reliance on foreign imports.

The national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Daniel Walton. Picture: Grant Wells

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“Coronavirus should be the wake-up call our leaders need to stop being petty and just get behind­ Australian jobs,” Mr Walton said. “Let’s break the addiction­ to cheap Chinese-imported­ product. It’s a stupid false economy.”

Almost seven out of 10 people surveyed also said that COVID-19 had made them look for Australian products to buy.

The survey comes after the Australian Made campaign ­rebooted its ad campaign to ­encourage people to shop locally.

Australian Made Campaign chief executive Ben Lazzaro said since the pandemic began there had been 300 per cent increase in traffic to the Australian Made website and social media sites.

The Australian Made TV ad campaign from the 1980s has been rebooted. Picture: Supplied

“There has been a five-fold increase in applications to use the Australian Made logo,” Mr Lazzaro said.

“We are not surprised that this situation has opened Australians’ eyes to the imbalance between imported products and locally made products.”

Research revealed in The Daily Telegraph last week showed that using Australian steel in just eight major projects including the Sydney Football Stadium would create 3000 jobs and pump $200 million into the economy.

Worker Steven Han, at The Australian Reinforcing Company in St Marys, says he wants Australian-made products. Picture: Christian Gilles

“The Australian Made campaign would very much like to see a focus on ­giving Australian manufacturers the first opportunity to supply government infrastructure projects­,” Mr Lazzaro said.

Machine operator Steven Han, 31, a father-of-three including two-month-old son Jayden, works for The Australian Re­inforcing Company in St Marys.

“None of these poll results are a surprise — Australians want to back Australian-made products,” he said. “The quality is better­. Buying Australian is not just about my job, it is about securing­ my children’s future.”

Originally published as Chinese imports: Australians want to stop manufacturing reliance