Yesterday saw the move offshore of yet another iconic Australian company. This time it's clothing manufacturer Pacific Brands who have been forced to end almost 100 years of local manufacture and move to China to "remain competitive". They own names such as Bonds, King Gee, Yakka and Berlei. The move will have a direct cost of some 1,800 Australian jobs, with many more in flow-on losses.

Their shutdown of local manufacture follows many similar stories including South Pacific Tyres, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Blundstone and Birkmyre Canvas among others.

After the announcement comes the inevitable finger pointing of blame. Usually directed towards the company, or the government, or the other country that's 'stealing' our jobs. But to find the real culprit for Australia's manufacturing decline, we need only look in the mirror.

The problem is that we simply don't care about buying Australian. In some cases, we consciously avoid doing so. For some Australians there is a bizarre stigma attached to buying or owning an Australian product. Why do some people crave imported cars or furniture?

The vehicles we make in Australia now are absolutely world-class. They are exported and in demand all over the world, and yet some Australians turn up their nose. Wheels magazine describes the Ford Territory as an "X5 for Falcon bucks", alluding that the $40,000 Territory is better in many ways than BMW's $120,000 X5. Various experts rate the current Falcon as the best family-size car in the world, better than the latest Honda Accord. Holden export the Commodore to Europe and the Middle East, where it competes with vehicles that cost double the price here in Australia. Yet some Australians snub these Australian vehicles despite them costing tens-of-thousands of dollars less than the imports!

Now don't get me wrong, I don't advocate blindly buying Australian at any cost, or if the quality is not there, or where there is no suitable Australian product. For example I predominantly drive a Toyota LandCruiser, because there is no suitable Australian alternative. However when the time comes to replace my wife's car, we will most likely be buying a Ford Territory rather than something like an imported Toyota Kluger. Why? Because it's a better vehicle in almost every way, at a similar price, and it's Australian. It should be outselling the Kluger 10-1, rather than slightly trailing it. By choosing the Australian-made option, not only will we be getting a better vehicle, but we'll be supporting Australian jobs and industry. And not just at Ford, but at every company that supplies Ford as well.

This brings me to another point. Australian's don't care where their products come from because they don't see the flow on effect of their decisions. As an example I'll look at canned tomatoes. Down at my local Coles, I can buy Australian tomatoes for $1.05, or Italian imports for 99c. I'll spend that extra 6c every time, but many people are happy to save a few cents without realising that it's probably false economy. Because every time you choose the import, the list of losers probably includes you.

Australian tomatoes require Australian farmers. Australian fertiliser for the plants. An Australian cannery to package them. Australian metal for the cans. Australian paper for the labels. Australian electricity to run the cannery. Australian tradesmen to service the growing, harvesting and packaging equipment. Australian shops for the employees to buy their lunch and their clothing. Australian drivers and trucks to transport the produce. All these people and companies paying tax in Australia. So the simple act of buying imported tomatoes can easily flow through the supply chain to hundreds of companies, and millions of individuals. And increase the tax burden on everyone else. So is all that cost to Australia worth saving 6 cents?

This example can be transposed to almost every industry in Australia. Our ongoing loss of manufacturing carries with it a massive flow-on effect throughout the employment chain which negatively affects almost everyone along the way.

Among the biggest culprits are corporate and retail Australia. Although heavily impacted by recessions, they bring much of the effects upon themselves by choosing imported products over local, even when there is little or no financial reason to do so. For example, many fleets have downsized their vehicles, away from the traditional Australian Commodores and Falcons to smaller imported cars like Corollas. The companies sight running costs as the reason, but they could just as easily convert their Falcon/Commodore fleets to LPG and achieve the same running costs while supporting Australian manufacture and helping to ward off a recession that will negatively impact on their business overall.

Pacific Brands is a great example of a failure lead by corporate Australia. How many Australian businesses chose to buy Chinese workwear over Australian-made King Gee or Yakka? All to save a few cents per uniform. And now, those same Australian businesses will be complaining loudly that they have 1800 less potential customers, and that the recession is biting into their bottom line.

Buying Imports = Fewer Australian Jobs = Less Spending Money = Deeper Recession

Conservatively, the loss of 1800 jobs at Pacific Brands equates to around 70 Million dollars a year being removed from the Australian economy, and 20 Million dollars a year less income tax being paid to the government. While 1800 jobs may not sound like much, these losses will have an effect on every Australian, either through receiving $20M less in Government services, or the effect of $50M less money being spent in our economy.

If Australians keep their obsession with unneccessary imports, then there will inevitably be more "Pacific Brands" occuring over the next few years. More families out of work, higher unemployment, a deeper recession, and an uncertain future for our children.

It's time for Australians to take responsibility and ownership of the future. To rescue the future of our country and our children. It's time to take the few seconds to check the origin of the food we buy. To consider whether saving a few cents is worth the wider cost that will follow. Time to avoid that $6 ream of Indonesian copy paper, when the Australian paper is actually cheaper! To consider whether the better, cheaper, larger Australian-made car is a wiser choice than the overpriced, unreliable and expensive-to-service "status-symbol" that is the imported alternative.

Buy Your Kids a Job - Buy Australian Made