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The government is urging consumers to ‘Buy Australian’, but it faces the challenge of overcoming a cost of living crisis, product stereotypes, and a “falling” sense of national pride.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed aimed at encouraging shoppers to buy “wonderful Australian products” in the aftermath of .
“There will be some funding in the budget to support a Buy Australian campaign,” he told reporters on Friday.
A price tag for the campaign is yet to be announced.
But swaying consumer habits could be harder than the government is hoping for according to a behavioural economist.
Professor Robert Hoffman, a behavioural economist at the University of Tasmania, told SBS News that Australian shoppers don’t always make rational decisions.
“The perfectly rational consumer would look at every product on its own merits, compare this product to that, and the country of origin shouldn’t matter as long as the product’s quality, price and characteristics fit what the consumer wants,” he said.
“Now, in practice, people aren’t rational. In a normal supermarket of 30,000 or more products, they’re overwhelmed with information.”
Cost of goods, stereotypes and bias
There are several factors that influence buying decisions, with price being especially important as Australians grapple with high mortgage stress and cost of living woes.
As a result, consumers may opt for the cheapest product available, regardless of its country of origin.
Another factor is what Hoffman refers to as ‘quality stereotypes’.
“When you think about guitars, you think guitars should be American. And when we hear that actually China makes some very good guitars, we might not believe it so easily and we just follow this stereotype,” he said.
“Let’s buy an American guitar, a German car, French wine, Italian fashion.”
This could pose a challenge for Australian brands and products trying to compete against the decades of trust built by overseas competitors, Hoffman said.
He also flagged an economic concept called — consumer ethnocentrism — the tendency of customers preference to domestic products over foreign-made ones.
“A consumer ethnocentrist might say, ‘I prefer domestic products because I want to support my country, and I think my country is better and greater and more important than other countries, and I’m willing to pay a little bit more for my own country’, so they would already buy domestic products,” he said.
This also applies to immigrants in Australia, who may have a preference for products from their home country.
‘Nationalism and patriotism are falling’
Hoffman said a decline in nationalism and patriotism could be another barrier to encouraging shoppers to buy Australian products.
“Nationalism and patriotism are falling. For instance, we did another study on military recruitment that’s getting harder and harder when nationalism falls. So I suspect the same thing would translate to buying Australian,” he said.
Former army chief Peter Leahy also addressed the decline in patriotism and military recruitment in a statement made in February, emphasising the need for a deeper cultural shift.
“As well as improving the mechanics of recruiting, the more important task is to restore a sense of pride and belonging in Australia and a desire to serve the nation,” he said.
“This is perhaps the most important job for the government, and it needs to get to work.”
A ‘Buy Australian’ campaign might prompt shoppers to think briefly about prioritising Australian goods, but Hoffman believes it would not significantly change their buying habits.
“If you’re less nationalistic and price-motivated, then generally, I think this campaign would not be as successful now as might have been maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago,” he said.
“I think we’d be wrong to say people would be thinking about this very deeply.”
What does it mean to be ‘Australian Made’?
The Australian Made logos are commonplace in stores and feature a golden kangaroo in a green triangle.
Products with the logo aren’t necessarily Australian-owned but must have gone through its “last substantial transformation” in Australia, according to the Australian Made website.
“A product has been substantially transformed in Australia if it was grown or produced in Australia, or as a result of one or more processes carried out in Australia, the end product is fundamentally different in identity, nature or essential character from all of its imported ingredients or components,” the website states.
There is no requirement for a percentage of the ingredients or components to come from Australia.
