Gold Coast City commits to local industry

In a Queensland first, the City of Gold Coast (CoGC) is supporting local industry by becoming an Australian Made Campaign Supporter.

The Australian Made Campaign is the not-for-profit organisation that administers and promotes the green-and-gold Australian Made, Australian Grown (AMAG) logo, Australia’s registered country-of-origin trademark, which helps businesses to clearly identify that their products are Australian.

As an Australian Made Campaign Supporter – the first Council in Queensland to pledge its support- the (CoGC) will be helping Australian manufacturing businesses to increase their capacity locally and access export markets.

“Our work with the Australian Made Campaign will support business growth both domestically and overseas,” CoGC Mayor Tom Tate said.

“The end goal is to develop our local businesses to become globally competitive.”

CoGC will work with the Australian Made Campaign to provide information to local businesses, to help increase understanding of country-of-origin branding as a marketing tool.

The city’s ‘buy local’ procurement policy also aligns with the campaign, by giving  Gold Coast businesses the first pick of $250 million in annual CoGC contracts.

Research shows that consumers, businesses and government want to buy Australian goods, made and grown to our high quality, health and safety standards, and the AMAG logo can be a powerful marketing tool.

Locally, 98% of Australians recognise it and 88% trust it to identify Aussie products*. Overseas, more than one third of the 1900 companies licensed to use the logo are leveraging the logo in export markets, with research showing that Australian products that carry the logo in export markets are more likely to increase sales than those which do not**.

Husband-and-wife team Colin and DeannThomson  from Sandiego Tortilla Factory specialise in manufacturing and distributing only the best when it comes to Mexican inspired tortillas from their  Gold Coast facility.

Mr Thomson said the logo was a big drawcard for international buyers keen to purchase genuine Aussie produced products.

“Aside from our successful National Retail, Foodservice and Private Label business we continue to attract the attention of more International Companies, including areas as diverse as Singapore, Vanuatu and New Zealand,” Mr Thomson said.

“We have regular orders from successful national retailers, foodservice outlets and private label businesses and we continue to attract the attention of more international retailers, restaurants and distributors because of the freshness and flavour of our products.  Customers tell us the logo helps shoppers quickly identify them as having been made in Australia.”

CoGC’s pledge to support the campaign follows the appointment of an Australian Made Campaign representative to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) in late 2013.

Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, said the CoGC set a good example for other councils, and hoped more councils in the region would follow suit.

“We are delighted to have a leading council such as the City of Gold Coast onboard as a campaign supporter, and look forward to working closely with Mayor Tom Tate, CEO Dale Dickson and the wider Economic Development team,” Mr Harrison said.

For more information visit http://www.businessgc.com.au/australian-made.

*Roy Morgan Research 2012
**Survey of exporters conducted by YSC Online in 2010