What would Australia look like without our beloved local shops and small business owners?
Well, for a start, all of your favourite Lemon Myrtle Fragrances products would be gone!
Our company is part of a growing movement of family businesses, creating Australian Made products to support the local economy. Not only are we the third family to run Lemon Myrtle Fragrances, which you can read more about by clicking here, but prior, we were dedicated customers of the business, meaning we now understand why Australian Made is important from both sides of the product!
But why is it even more important today?
Well, with our growing global society, where express Amazon purchases are the norm and tariff talk is constant, Australian Made is a quiet power, keeping every person in the product journey safe, from innovator to producer to consumer.
Here’s how:
Supporting Local - More Than Just a Purchase
Keeping It in the Family: Why Small Businesses Matter
When you buy an Australian Made product, you are:
- supporting Aussie jobs
- empowering rural communities
- and keeping money circulating locally.
This means that not only is our present economy strengthened, but our future economy is promised, with proof of demand for Australian Made today resulting in more job opportunities for locals tomorrow!
This has a ripple effect, increasing the financial and mental wellbeing of entire communities, just because you buy from one local family or small business.
Global brands don’t have the same impact, with products purchased from them usually only benefiting the top of companies. That means the Australian products you buy hold more value than their global counterparts, even if they seem like similar products on the surface.
Product Safety & Standards - We Do It Better
Why Australian Made Means Peace of Mind
Did you know there isn't a single universal set of global product regulations? That means that when you buy internationally, safety and quality is not assured.
Yet in Australia, there are rigorous safety, hygiene, and environmental standards Aussie manufacturers must follow, no matter the type of product they’re making.
This regulation is especially important for skincare, food, and natural products, which require an inherent trust in manufacturers as they can impact our health more than any other product type.
For our products, we assure safe, traceable, and trustworthy options, going beyond the high standards of Australian regulations to ensure every product is free of nasties and never tested on animals.
Click here if you want to read about Australian Consumer Law, or click here to read our frequently asked questions, including what they’re made of and where ingredients come from!
Building Trust Between Makers and Buyers
You Know Who Made It - And That Matters
One of the best things about Australian Made and small businesses is that there are real people behind every product. Local manufacturing fosters transparency, especially because you get to see owners at markets, contact them directly online, and build an ongoing relationship strengthened by trust and integrity.
Plus, with family businesses, you’re part of the family. Our products are made to benefit you, so we want to help in any aspect of your life we can, from your cleaning and skin to even your pet care! Our favourite thing is hearing customer testimonials and seeing the same names pop up over the years because we truly are all in this together.
Environmental Benefits of Buying Local
Lower Footprint, Greater Good
Another great benefit of buying Australian Made products is the fewer transport emissions. Instead of having to ship materials and products to and from Australia, our environmental impact is reduced when people buy and sell locally.
Similarly, the responsible sourcing of native ingredients is a game changer for our planet, reducing the farming or import of invasive species that impact the ecosystem beyond transport emissions. For us, this involves sourcing natural and sustainable ingredients from across Australia, including Certified Organic farms where possible.
These ethical and eco-conscious practices can mean local products are more expensive when it comes to the dollar cost, but zooming out, these sustainable methods ensure our planet is safer and healthier, keeping the cost of our future down. Plus, in purchasing products from local businesses, we are reinforcing that these standards should be the norm, giving the businesses the support to continue prioritising sustainability.
What Happens if We Lose Our Local Shops?
The Risk of Outsourcing Everything
Sometimes, the easiest way to understand something’s benefit is by removing it completely, so let’s go back to our initial question:
What would Australia look like without our beloved local shops and small business owners?
Imagine a world without local bakeries, butchers, or farmer’s markets. No access to fresh food or natural products.
Handmade products would be rare, but what is of more concern is the end of unique and culturally important products. Think bushfood brands, Indigenous designs - anything that makes our local products impossible to outsource.
Product diversity would be limited, and if we wanted sustainable or natural products, the cost would be greater than most of us can prioritise, especially with most of our jobs gone. That’s right, with no more small businesses, almost half of the private sector workforce would be unemployed. Australia’s economy would take a major hit, but many smaller communities would crash entirely.
And that’s all without mentioning the points we made above, with outsourcing everything increasing our risks of money no longer being circulated on a local level, consuming unregulated and therefore unsafe products, trust and loyalty becoming non-existent in the consumer space, and increasing the rate of climate destruction.
So it’s safe to say that Australian Made and local businesses are irreplaceable.
How to Recognise & Support Australian Made
The Little Green and Gold Kangaroo Matters
To know if the products you’re purchasing are Australian Made, look for the green triangle with a golden kangaroo:
This logo is part of Australia’s regulation to ensure product transparency and trust, but keep in mind a similar and common term ‘Made in Australia’ is not the same as this Australian Made logo. ‘Made in Australia’ will not have the triangle and kangaroo seal of approval, because it only recognises products that were manufactured in Australia, but may have been designed elsewhere, or created with imported products/ingredients.
'Australian Made', however, acknowledges a product that was designed, manufactured, and made within Australia, indicating it has a higher degree of quality and reliability and supports local suppliers at every step of the product’s production journey.
Tip: check out our lemon myrtle products here to see the Australian Made logo in action and join the local movement to support Aussie products.
Choose Quality, Choose Homegrown
While businesses may be small, our products are mighty, lifting up whole communities with every product we sell.
So, next time you shop, choose more than just a product - choose Australian Made! (After all, May is the month of Australian Made week, which you can read more about by clicking here, so it’s only fair to start today!)
Unless you need more convincing - in that case, check out this blog on six more benefits of buying Australian Made products, then explore our range!