What's Genuinely Australian Made?

This is a question that is no where near as clear as what you may have thought it to be, and, it doesn't just apply to pet products, it extends to all products we purchase.

How many times have you typed in the following?

Buy personalised pet collars - and something that looks Aussie has come up but they're overseas...

Buy Australian made dog bed - same thing...most of the results that show in the first few pages of Google aren't Australian made...

So, it's tricky. The simplest definition that sets out the standard to use the Australian Made logo and branding (of which we're accredited), is as follows:

"The goods must have been substantially transformed in Australia"

This is entirely up to interpretation and thus where the entire process gets extremely confusing for businesses, but, even moreso for consumers trying to purchase from genuinely Australian made businesses and supporting Australian jobs. This statement has such ambiguity that it applies to almost any product that is somehow "changed" in any process, if it provides a substantial change. Here's the simplest example relative to the pet sector:

For example, a company can go overseas and have a dog bed cover made (the cover is where 80% of labour is involved in dog bed production) and also have the internal bladder for the same dog bed made in the same factory. Then, they can have these shipped to Australia, then at their warehouse, undo the packaging of both and slide the bladder into the cover.

By existing definition they have substantially changed the product, meaning, this is now classed as Australian Made and carries the classic triangle Australian's know so well and relate to Australian manufacturing and jobs. The truth is, this bed has not been manufactured in Australia, it doesn't support Australian jobs, Australian industry and leads to much confusion for consumers trying to do the right thing.

Here at Rover Pet Products we are 100% committed to manufacturing here in Australia. We have now developed our own Genuinely Australian Made & Owned logo that you can see below to be a point of difference.

We have discussed our concerns at great length with the Australian Made campaign but to no avail and we have now engaged discussion with our Federal Member of Parliament, Meryl Swanson to see what can be achieved at a Federal level. We believe given the past few years Australian consumers are more educated than ever and attempting to make decisions with their buying power, but, are being let down by marketing and technicalities which directly oppose their purchasing goals.

 Here we have the local Federal Member, Meryl Swanson visiting our factory to discuss ways to strengthen the brand of the Australian Made Campaign and remove confusion for consumers.