[Leon Della Bosca]

Remember when Bonds singlets and clothing were Australian Made? Remember when you could buy a Holden, Mini Minor, Toyota, Chrysler or Ford that was made in Australia?

Those days seem so far behind us now.

Which is why I get excited when I see a product labelled “Australian made”?

But … according to the Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL): “A product can be described as ‘Australian made’ or ‘made in Australia’ if it underwent its last substantial transformation in Australia.

So that ‘Australian Made’ logo may not be as legit as you think. In fact, the product in your hands with the green and gold kangaroo logo doesn’t need to be entirely or majority made in Australia to be considered ‘Australian made’.

“A business buys imported plastic pellets and wire. Through an injection moulding process, the pellets are melted and formed into a bucket. The wire is cut and bent to form a handle. The end product (the bucket) is fundamentally different to all the imported ingredients. The product has been substantially transformed in Australia,” states AMCL.

So, says the AMCL, no minimum percentage of components need to come from Australia to determine whether a product is Australian made.

It doesn’t necessarily need to be made here nor paid for any minimum cost of manufacturing the product to be paid to an Australian company.

And yet there is a big chance you’ll be paying more for a product labelled ‘Australian made’ over clearly foreign made products.

Do you think this is fair? What should be done about this?

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