Hi! My name is Kathy Dudley and I am a beef producer and spring water supplier from Yolla in North-West Tassie.
My Aussie Aisles in Australian Supermarkets is a way to give our farm kids a future in this industry and a way to ensure that what we are eating is of the best quality.
My idea began sSome time ago when I was doing the grocery shopping. I thought I would concentrate on purchasing as much Aussie food as I could.
And this was extremely hard; labelling was not user-friendly and then finding the Australian food amongst the imported was very time consuming.
I did try and came home with not many Australian products but did feel sure that I had got Australian frozen corn.
Could not believe my eyes when I reread the label: it said Australasia and in this case it meant the corn was from New Zealand.
At least once a week you hear of some farmer or farmers that are doing it tough and in a lot of ways it is the nature of the industry. When you work in an environment that is not regulated then there are aspects that can go against what you are doing any day of the week. Having said that though those same aspects that can help you immensely and can turn your loss into a profit – or break, even overnight, with just one good rain.
So the last thing that I want to do is to whine about being a farmer; I love it and all the challenges associated with it.
What we struggle with is the imported cheaper, poorer quality foods and beverages brought into this country.
These products are then promoted heavily (I suspect the supermarkets make a lot of money from them) and sold instead of our own quality produce.
Farmers then sell less of their produce because we cannot compete with the cheap imports.
The regulations that Australian farmers must adhere to are some of the toughest in the world but this is done for consumer safety. We know that if you buy Australian produce and products that there have been no banned sprays or chemicals put on or in them.
To me this far outweighs the price difference I know that when I am feeding my children I only want them to be able to eat food that is not contaminated or dangerous as the case can be with imported foods and beverages.
I know that when I buy Australian Food I am feeding my children some of the best food in the world and keeping our primary producers growing.
This in turn keeps our processors and packers busy keeps our freight companies busy and all in all helps our economy.
If we can get our farmers selling more produce in Australia then a future will be seen in this industry Instead of family members heading off to work elsewhere they may stay on the farm.
I know that how the industry is at present I don’t want my children to stay and work on the farm, as there is no future there for them.
I don’t want to see them struggle as I have, but we can turn it all around.
We can keep our farms and make them work.
Instead of State Governments going to Asia as Lara Giddings did and saying we will become the food bowl for Asia, maybe they should concentrate of feeding our own country with our own quality food and not try to send the good stuff overseas and let us eat the inferior produce.
Maybe if the Governments could see the economic benefits that can and would come from Australians eating more Australian food they might just do something about it.
My idea is such a simple one I wonder why it has not been done.
It’s as simple as putting an Australian Aisle in every major supermarket.
So when you go to do your groceries and if you are one of many that want to support Australian producers then you can just head to the Aussie Aisle.
One of the main problems we face with the system how it stands is the fact that everyone is no-one has time to find and read labels.
When we do the grocery shopping we just want to get it done as quick as possible.
Sure there are many out there that are price driven and some that just plain cannot afford to buy more expensive food.
But there are so many consumers that just want to be able to buy 100% Aussie.
No gimmicks with labels; no made from local and imported; just made from Australia.
I brought some cheese slices last week made from Local and Imported but it did not tell me on the label what part was local and what was imported.
And why would we need to import anything to make cheese slices.
We need the supermarkets to put in 100% Aussie Aisles and we need the Australian Consumer to – at every opportunity – support this idea.
If we don’t get behind this who know what we will end up with and if there even will be any Aussie farmers left.
We need to have a level playing field and the Aussie Aisles does this for every Australian Producer / Manufacturer.
If the government can ban plastic bags; ban smoking in areas and bring in other regulations, then why can the government not do something to make this happen?
That can and will help the economy.
So I ask people help me get the message out there; help me get the support I need to make this a reality.
Let’s give our kids a future on and off the land and not see our great country become the property of others.
If our farms are profitable then more Australians are going to look to either stay on them or will be able sell them to other Australians.
Please help Support Aussie Aisles by signing the petition:
http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/aussie-aisles-1
