Ausbuy

The Australian Companies Institute (Ausbuy) is a not-for-profit, non-political organisation that encourages Australians to support Australian owned and made products and services.

Ausbuy was founded in 1991 by Harry Wallace as a result of his own business experience. This was felt necessary as more and more companies were being forced to sell out to foreign interests. [Gallagher, Michael M.; in: Fischer, Wolfgang Chr. & Mwenda, Kenneth K., Country of Origin - A Law and Economics Approach to the Concept of Made in Australia, 1st Edition, Koeln - Lohmar, Germany 2007, p.25]

After World War II Australia faced the problem of having an underdeveloped manufacturing base which left it dependent on overseas supplies. There was a realisation that this situation, combined with Australia’s geographic isolation, made it vulnerable. This led to the decision being made to build up manufacturing capability. The aftermath of war provided opportunities to recruit skilled workers from Europe and Australia was able to establish capacity behind the protection of a tariff wall. It was obvious that this wall had to be reduced but the rate of reduction ran well ahead of our increasing ability to compete in a global market. The justification of this policy was that it portrayed Australia as a good global citizen and, at the same time, reduced inflationary pressures. This is true but the cost has been high. Australia’s foreign debt has skyrocketed, factories have closed and well paid skilled jobs in factories have been replaced by unskilled jobs in the service industries. [Gallagher 2007, p.27]

Ausbuy’s main task is one of communication at many levels as follows:

*It tries to alert the people of Australia to the long term problems facing Australia and the possible effect on their children and grandchildren.
*It is invited onto television and radio to comment on relevant issues.
*It lobbies governments on such issues as labelling laws, foreign takeovers of Australian companies and competition issues.
*It publishes the Ausbuy Guide which is designed to enable the Australian public to identify and support the product and services offered by Australian owned companies. This book identifies brands and is of a size that can be carried round by the principal shopper.
*It has a logo which it licenses to its members so that they can differentiate their products and allow the consumer to identify them as being provided by Australian owned companies.
*It arranges promotions with supermarkets to assist the members to sell their products.
*It publishes a newsletter where it discusses the issues of the day in a non-partisan manner and in terms that the general public can understand. [Gallagher 2007, p.29]

References

External; links

* [http://www.ausbuy.com.au Ausbuy]