Minister for Industry opens new AMAG offices

October 30, 2008

Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research officially opened the new office premises of Australian Made, Australian Grown (AMAG) in South Melbourne today, Thursday 30 October at 12 noon. 

Hosted by Australian Made, Australian Grown’s Deputy Chairman, David Gray AM, and Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, Senator Carr was joined by representatives from industry bodies and a wide range of businesses using the logo.

In 2005 AMAG relocated its campaign office from Canberra to Melbourne in order to move closer to its industry constituency and to build a greater commercial focus into its approach.

In opening the Campaign Office, Senator Carr placed emphasis on the need for Australians to support local business and buy Australian made during these uncertain economic times.

“The now famous Australian Made logo was originally commissioned in 1986 by the Hawke Government. Twenty-two years later, the Australian Government still thinks the logo is a great idea, and strongly supports its use to promote Australian products,” Senator Carr said.

“Consumers in this country are very conscious of where the products they buy come from, and they are proud to see local products competing with imports. Like me, and like the Prime Minister, they want Australia to remain ‘a country that actually makes things’. The Australian Made Campaign is playing a very important role in helping us achieve that aim so it is a great pleasure to be opening its new offices today.”

Australian Made, Australian Grown’s Deputy Chairman, David Gray AM welcomed those in attendance and spoke of the importance of promoting the Australian Made, Australian Grown logo in overseas markets  for Australia to be recognised as an innovative economy.

“The Campaign strongly supports Australia having an agreed country of origin symbol that its exporters can use to clearly identify their goods, services and produce as Australian and thereby cash in on the good standing Australians enjoy in global markets,” Mr Gray said.

“This is an important and obvious role for the AMAG logo, which for the 22 years since its creation by the Hawke Labor Government, has been helping business, big and small, sell their products and produce in markets all over the world.

“The more we build the global recognition of the AMAG logo, and the more companies that use the logo on their export products, the more the rest of the world, and dare I say it Australians too, will recognise the extent to which we already produce a vast range of sophisticated, innovative, manufactured goods,” Mr Gray said.

The new premises in South Melbourne will accommodate a growing team committed to promoting the logo as an important global product symbol that assists consumers here and in countries around the world in identifying innovative, quality Australian goods and produce.

In the past three and a half years, the number of companies licensed to use the logo has grown by 60% to include organisations as significant as Coopers Brewery and the BlueScope Steel group. AMAG is the not-for-profit organisation that administers the much-loved green and gold logo and promotes the benefits of buying Australian made and grown to consumers here and internationally. AMAG’s campaign concentrates on the benefits of buying Australian made and grown.  Those goods are identified by the logo.

The green and gold stylised kangaroo logo is Australia’s most widely used and best known product symbol, with 98% recognition domestically and rapid growth in awareness internationally. It is also the most trusted symbol for goods that are made or grown here and the logo can now be found on more than 10,000 products. Licensees represent a wide range of industries, but all have one thing in common; they are proud of the goods they make and want to promote the fact that these are made or grown here.