Is Australian-made good enough? You might want to check the fine print

The bosses behind Australian brands Weet-Bix, SPC, Mayver’s peanut butter, Norco milk and Sunshine Sugar have banded together to urge shoppers to look beyond the “Australian made” logo in a concerted push to stop profits from being “siphoned offshore” and keep local farmers in jobs.

Research conducted by farmer-owned dairy cooperative Norco found four in five shoppers (81 per cent) actively bought products from an overseas company, believing it was Australian-owned.

“You just see things like a tomato sauce brand that says ‘Made in Australia’, but on the back it says it’s only made with 20 per cent Australian ingredients. And by the way, it’s a foreign-owned company,” said Norco chief executive Michael Hampson.

Michael Hampson, Norco chief executive and Todd Saunders, Sanitarium executive general manager Australia and New Zealand. Credit: Elise Derwin

“That’s the level of confusion. It’s not like 10 per cent, 15 per cent; it is the overwhelming majority of people in this research that had bought a brand that they thought was Australian-owned, and it wasn’t.”

Many Australians make purchasing decisions by referring to the triangular “Australian Made, Australian Grown” logo of a gold kangaroo on a green background, which 99 per cent of Australians recognise, according to Roy Morgan data. However, the logo does not signal the product’s country of ownership.

“Australian made, Australian Grown” logo.Credit:

More than half (56 per cent) of consumers said they just look for the logo to make purchasing decisions, and about a third (30 per cent) of shoppers have increased their support for what they believe to be Australian products. Two in three (66 per cent) claimed they would buy more Australian-owned products if that information was more readily available.

“I think many consumers see the kangaroo on the back of the pack, or that was made in Australia, and automatically assume that just because the product has been made in Australia, then it’s owned by an Australian company,” said Sanitarium executive general manager Todd Saunders.

The coalition of Australian business leaders are also concerned about the growing proportion of cheaper imported products entering the Australian market. For example, Australians ate 17 per cent more imported dairy products in the 2023 financial year, largely from New Zealand, where the cost of labour is lower. The country’s three biggest seafood players are majority owned by offshore giants after Tassal was acquired by Canadian aquaculture giant Cooke two years ago. Brazilian meat giant JBS acquired Huon Aquaculture in 2021. The third, Petuna, is 50 per cent owned by New Zealand company Sealord Group.

SPC slashed its canned fruit production this year by 40 per cent amid declining demand for Australian-grown pears and peaches.

SPC chief marketing officer Peta Allsopp said the business had felt the impact of foreign competition in recent times.

“Consumers are making very considered values-based choices. At times, they are either knowingly or unknowingly choosing imported options from lower cost producing countries such as China and South Africa,” Allsopp said.

Peanut butter brand Mayver’s Foods chief executive Bethaney George said she had struggled to find Australian growers for their jam products as she found many farmers had ripped out their orchards due to uncertainty about demand. George also experienced difficulty in sourcing enough Australian-grown peanuts and was forced to purchase some Argentinian peanuts to go into its popular crunchy smooth peanut butter.

“Anything that’s Australian-made absolutely drives job creation and economic activity in Australia, which is an amazing thing. However, with foreign-owned companies, they can still use that labelling as ‘Australian made’,” George said.

“That means the money isn’t obviously then reinvested in the Australian market, it’s been siphoned offshore and not reinvested in our local communities or with our local suppliers.

“We would like the government to seriously consider the benefits of the country of ownership labelling, just so we can try to remove the confusion and deception in the marketplace and ensure that 100 per cent Australian benefit of ownership is clear for consumers, so that they can make those informed decisions.”

Hampson urged consumers to “just check” the labels of the products they buy to determine whether it was Australian-owned, not just Australian-made.

“If we get that little bit of little more understanding about where our money is going, then we can certainly change the habits of consumers.”

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