Past Newsletters

12th October 2009

27th September 2009

9th March 2009

Stimulus Payment Info.
"This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgin.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set or some such thing, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. S... up. (be quiet)

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the Australian economy by spending your stimulus cheque wisely:

If you spend that money at Kmart, all the money will go to China .
If you spend it on petrol it will go to the Arabs.
If you buy a car it will go to Japan .
If you purchase a computer or a slurpy it will go to India .
If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan .

And none of it will help the Australian economy.

We need to keep that money here in Australia spending it on Australian made and owned products. You can keep the money in Australia by spending it at
garage sales, going to a cricket match or footy game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses that may still be owned by Aussies.


.........................unless you buy from www.OnlyOz.com.au of course!!!

6 March 2009

Dear Onlyoz staff,
Thank you for informing me of the latest Aust. companies to be bought by foreign owned businesses. I have been a loyal supporter of both Golden Circle and Dairy Farmers for many years and am quite shattered by the news.
It is also very interesting to learn of the labelling of the generic products in the supermarkets. I have watched the gradual shift of "home brand" produce from being Australian grown to overseas grown. I gave up buying tinned asparagus some time ago because I could not find any Aust. grown!
I am so thrilled that you provide this service, and I wish you every success. Please keep up the flow of information. I am educating my children to buy Oz as well!

5 March 2009

Copy of letter to Anna Bligh Premier of Queensland:

Dear Anna Bligh, 

I enjoyed meeting you on three occasions and been to three events that you have held at the Parliament Annex in Brisbane. 

My husband and I started Only Australian Groceries www.OnlyOz.com.au a little over three and a half years ago. We are very passionate about supporting Australian companies because we have found many great Australian products are no longer available in conventional grocery stores. 

We are very lucky that our business has been successful so we are able to do what we believe in and earn a living at the same time. Please see our shop at www.OnlyOz.com.au . We have a retail store that sells grocery products made in Australia by Australian companies from Australian grown produce. We deliver to anywhere in Australia (or the world). 

We enjoyed attending the Australian Day lunch this year and look forward to being more involved with Australia Day celebrations next year. 

Before more Australian manufacturers close their doors, we would like to grow our business, so we could employ more people, send out more orders and buy more products from Australian manufacturers. 

I have had absolutely no luck at getting any government support of any type from any government department. I came to the night you had at parliament house last year to find a grant. Unfortunately every department I spoke with at that night and afterwards, had lots of reasons why another department should help us. 

We are doing a good thing for Australian manufacturers, Australian employees and Australian consumers. We send out hundreds of orders every day so we are obviously valued by Australians. We have been on Today Tonight twice, Brisbane Extra 4 times and Channel Ten news. We don’t want some private company to invest in us and take away our control and our ethics. However my husband and I can only grow our business at a slow and steady rate because we don’t have surplus capital. 

When I met you at Parliament House you seemed very positive and you said you though there would be someone who would want to help us. John Mickel said he doesn’t like to give grants. He said if a small business is successful, it doesn’t need a grant. Federal departments tell me I should speak with State departments and State departments say I should speak to Federal governments. 

Surely the Queensland government would like such a job creating business like ours to expand sooner rather than later. Perhaps the government could stimulate the economy by putting cash flow behind companies that employ Australians? 100% of purchases made at OnlyOz go towards Australian companies and employees. None of the profits leave Australia. 

We have a rating system for the products on our website:

AAAA = Australian owned, Australian made from Australian materials or ingredients.
AAA = Australian owned, Australian made from local and imported ingredients. 

Please can you help me find a way to expand our business sooner before more Australian manufacturers close their doors or send the manufacturing off shore? 

Please reply because I have tried every other option I can think of. 

Kind regards, 

Katie Hooker 

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9 December 2008

Sometimes our task is very challenging. Golden Circle, Dairy Farmers and Babylove are no longer Australian owned so we will not be stocking their products anymore. We will sell what we have in the warehouse but we won't order more in. I believe Babylove and Dairy Farmers have been sold to Japanese companies and Golden Circle was sold to an American company. It is a little depressing for me. 

Thankfully we are able to increase the range or SPC Ardmona products as they are very committed to using Australian produce as well as being Australian owned. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), SPC Ardmona is Australian Owned because it is owned by Coca Cola Amitel which primarily has Australian shareholders. That is why SPC is allowed to have "Australian Owned" on their packaging.....I contacted the ACCC about it previously. Ausbuy does not consider them Australian Owned under their terms of reference. However the ACCC says they are Australian Owned, and they manufacture their products in Australia. They employ Australians, pay taxes in Australia and the profits stay in Australia so we decided to stock their products.

We are also stocking more products by Fawcett Bros who own Rosella, Stromboli and Aristocrat. We do not stock the Rosella Squeeze bottle of Tomato sauce because that product is made in America. All the Rosella products we stock are made in Australia. We have also recently received the Geoff Jansz products. You can see his products and recipes here: http://www.gourmetfoodholdings.com.au/Shop.asp?Keyword=GEOFFJANSZ

If you want to put a comment on this page, please email it to admin@onlyoz.com.au . Please include your suburb and country.

16 November 2008 

When the economy is under strain...BUY AUSTRALIAN !
An English politician once said: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and families... people should look to themselves first". Every step we take, every move we make, helps shape the kind of society we will become. Make every purchase count. Buy Australian every time ! 

I believe Babylove has been sold to a Japanese company. 

I have discovered a website: www.ethical.org.au . Do take a look. You can download their guide. 

When the economy is under strain...BUY AUSTRALIAN !
An English politician once said: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and families... people should look to themselves first". Every step we take, every move we make, helps shape the kind of society we will become.
Make every purchase count. Buy Australian every time ! We do!

Great Christmas Presents !
We are starting to organise our CHRISTMAS HAMPERS. You can send our hampers or your own choice of products to ANYONE ANYWHERE. We will organise it for you. At the same time you know you are buying Australian owned and made and keeping the money in Australia !!!!! (You can get a warm feeling inside because you know you are supporting Australian manufacturers, Australian farmers and helping to employ Australians.)


Sydney delivery is now only $9 !! These orders need to be with us before 9am on Wednesday. They are delivered on Thursdays.

For FAST ORDERING please look at the back of your "thank you" flyer. There are directions on how to reorder quickly.

If there is anything else we can help you with. Please let me know. Please keep buying your groceries from us so we can keep supporting Australian manufacturers.

Buy from Only Oz - We support Australian companies!


October 16 2008 

OnlyOz has recently subscribed to Choice Magazine and Online references. Choice Magazine is organised by The Australian Consumers' Association, a not-for-profit company. They say they have: "No advertising, no bias ... just reliable, expert advice. With over 200,000 subscribers to our information products, we are the largest consumer organization in Australia. Our aim is to tackle the issues that really matter to consumers, arming them with the information to make confident choices and lobbying for change when consumers are getting a raw deal. CHOICE is fiercely independent: we do not receive ongoing funding from any commercial, government or other organization. We earn the money to buy all the products we test and support our campaigns through the sale of our own products and services." You can visit them at www.choice.com.au

I love the Choice report about Olive Oil. They found: 

Of the six olive oils that rated highest, four were produced in Australia. 
Extra-virgin olive oils are at their best when they’re fresh, which should give Australian products the edge over European imports. 
I love that they found Sanitarium Weet-Bix to be the most popular cereal in Australia and Choice also gave it "Thumbs Up".

A Note about Canned Fish

Unfortunately Only Oz has not been able to find a completely Australian canned fish. I know it seems crazy!! Australia is an island surrounded by plenty of fish, yet there doesn't seem to be an Australian company canning fish in Australia. If you ever find an Australian fish canning company please let us know. We have been searching for years now.

We stock some Australian owned brands because at least they are an Australian company and pay taxes in Australia. We have rated the canned fish products as (A) A = Australian owned, imported product.

If you can suggest another brand that would be more suitable for us to stock, I would really appreciate your help.

We have a rating system for the products on our website: 

AAAA = Australian owned, Australian made from Australian materials or ingredients. 
AAA = Australian owned, Australian made from local and imported ingredients. 
AA = Australian owned, imported product, packaged in Australia. 
A = Australian owned, imported product.

Quilton Toilet Paper and Tissue Products and Other ABC Tissue Products

Only Oz has tried really had to stock all of the Quilton products and other products by the same manufacturer. We have been told over and over by the Queensland Tissue ABC Tissue sales representative, that the Quilton products and the Naturale products, they will only sell to Coles and Woolworth's. We really think this is not fair. We have written to the ACCC on numerous occasions but we have never even had a reply. The grocery industry is so unfair !!


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WHY DO WE SUPPORT AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES ?
Australian companies: 

Pay higher taxes in Australia than multinational companies. 
Keep profits in Australia . 
Are more likely to manufacture in Australia . 
Are more likely to use Australian produce from Australian farmers. 
Employ Australians. 

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Consumer awareness of Australian Made - from Australian Made Campaign www.
Buying Australian is much more important to consumers than Australian business believes. That’s a major finding from 1999 research to assess the importance of country of origin information to consumers and business.

The research suggests Australian businesses have underestimated the value of promoting the origin of their products. Over 95 per cent of consumers recognise the Australian Made logo and most consumers say made in Australia is an important purchase criteria, but only half of Australian businesses believe such branding is an important marketing tool.

The awareness level of the Australian Made logo is high, with 96% of respondents aware of the Australian Made logo.

The research shows some 91% of respondents have purchased goods with the Australian Made logo. The most commonly reported types of purchases made with the logo were food (25%), adult fashion clothing (20%), children’s clothing (11%) and other grocery items excluding food (11%).

Females were more likely to consciously look for the Australian Made logo than males when purchasing food, clothing and a range of other items.

The main reasons why people buy Australian Made products are:

to create jobs 
to help the economy 
to support fellow Australians 
for the future of our country 
to reduce imports 
to help manufacturers. 

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Importance of buying Australian
Overall 89% of respondents felt it was important to them that the goods or products they purchase are of Australian origin. Some 19% of respondents considered it "extremely important", 37% considered it "very important" and 32% considered it "important".

When respondents were asked how often they actively sought goods or products of Australian origin, 12% said "always", 43% said "mostly" and 27% said "sometimes".

Awareness of the importance of buying Australian, and frequency of seeking Australian made goods, is higher amongst older respondents (35+ and highest amongst 50+) than younger respondents (18-34).

Country of origin research
Industry and consumer research conducted nationally by Sweeney Research on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources (in May 1999) found that industry underestimates the importance consumers place on country of origin information.

Almost 70% of consumers look for information about a product’s origin when making purchasing decisions. This far exceeds industry predictions. Of the businesses surveyed, only 55% agreed that consumers look for country of origin information when shopping.

The consumer research found that:

Consumers look for country of origin labels to help them determine the quality of an item and to support local industry and employment 
Around 88% of consumers prefer to buy Australian whenever possible and 77% are happy to pay a little extra for Australian made goods. 
Consumers are keen to know where a product comes from and are more likely to purchase a product if they know its origins. When consumers specifically ask for country of origin information at the point of sale 78% of those who receive an answer go on to purchase the product whereas only 45% of those who do not receive the requested information go on to purchase the good.

Importance of buying Australian varies with product type
Research shows that the importance consumers place on country of origin varies according to product type:

83% of consumers believe country of origin information is important when purchasing fresh food 
72% believe country of origin information is important when deciding which packaged foods to buy 
63% believe country of origin information is important when choosing clothing and shoes 
63% of consumers purchasing white goods look for country of origin information 
57% of consumers think country of origin information is important when looking at big ticket items such as cars, motorbikes and boats 
51% of consumers still look for country of origin information on items such as tools and electrical appliances 
50% of consumers believe country of origin information is important when purchasing household furniture. 
The research also revealed that: 
64% of industry respondents show country of origin labelling information on their products 
but only 7% could accurately describe what ‘made in’ means 
and only 14% could describe what ‘product of’ represents. 
Measurement of awareness of the Australian Made logo was commissioned by the Australian Made Campaign and undertaken by Roy Morgan Research in August 1999 and September 1999. Research results reported here are reproduced from the report to the Campaign by Roy Morgan Research. Results from the Sweeney Research are reproduced from DISR Country of Origin Labelling, Industry – Industry Fact Sheet available at www.isr.gov.au/labelling

This information was taken from The Australian Made Campaign website at: http://www.australianmade.com.au/faq/factsheet/consumerawareness.asp . 


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Why we need balance
By Dick Smith

A number of articles have appeared recently, including two by Dennis Shanahan, accusing me of the most extraordinary sins. I have been denounced for misusing patriotism to sell products and stirring up everything from paranoia and jingoism to outright xenophobia in the Australian public.

Unfortunately, the writers of these articles have all made the same fundamental error. They have failed to understand my overriding goal ever since I started Dick Smith Foods. That goal has been simply to achieve balance. As the publicity material said over 12 months ago, at the time of the company's launch, "I am determined to back our farmers and fight back for a fair balance of Australian ownership in our food industry." 

Because originally I made money from importing electronic components from overseas, some journalists criticise me for pushing the advantages of buying goods produced in Australia by Australian-owned companies. However, I am not being hypocritical; I am being totally consistent. My attitude has always been, and still is, that you buy the best and sell the best. You never accept mediocrity. When I was a spokesman for the “Australian Made” campaign I clearly stated that you should only buy Australian “when it’s as good”.

Australia makes few electronic components, and it does not necessarily make the best. On the other hand Asian countries - principally Japan - make the best. So that's where I went in search of products for Dick Smith Electronics. 

Now, when it comes to food, I believe Australia grows the best in the world. So it shocked me to discover that 85 per cent of the food in a typical supermarket trolley is either imported or comes from foreign-owned companies. I'm a strong supporter of free trade as it will assist third world countries to raise their standard of living and I accept globalisation as a fact of life. But here we get back to the issue of balance. I firmly believe that we should strive for a balance in our trade, with roughly the same quantities of goods, services and profits coming into Australia as are going out. We have nothing like that kind of balance at the moment. Every day $100 million more leaves the country than comes in.

Another of the sins I'm accused of committing is of only employing a small number of people at Dick Smith Foods. However, my accusers fail to mention the hundreds of extra people who have been taken on by canneries and Australian-owned food producers around the country as a result of my company's activities. 

I believe there are distinct advantages of local ownership of companies as the profits are most likely to be re-invested in Australia creating further wealth. This is why I have always believed that Australian made is good, but Australian made by an Australian owned company is even better.

Not that I have anything against foreign companies operating in Australia. Quite the opposite: I have stressed this from the moment Dick Smith Foods was launched. 

To accuse me of being against foreign ownership is like saying that an Australian who barracked for Australian swimmers at the Olympic games must be against foreign swimmers. Of course that's not the case. It's simply a case of supporting the home team. Dick Smith Foods is waving the flag for Australia and Australian companies. 

But having said that, I should add that I prefer the old ways of foreign investment, by which companies would take the risk of creating a new business here and actually generating jobs. Good examples of this are General Motors and Ford. These days foreign companies tend to come in, buy up existing successful Aussie companies at bargain-basement prices (because of the Australian dollar's low value), “down size” (ie sack staff), put up prices and then repatriate all the profits out of the country. The Australian funeral industry has been particularly hard hit in this way. Once entirely Australian-owned and mainly family-run, it is now in the hands of a large American funeral conglomerate. I simply cannot see the advantage for Australia of this type of foreign ownership.

I believe this is one of the downsides of globalisation. Another is that as companies become huge they tend to stop competing with one another because they operate and think in the same way. These mega companies also result in the situation where it’s virtually impossible for a new entrepreneur to start up in competition. Without strong and new competition I believe our proven successful system of free enterprise could be doomed.

Even so, I accept that globalisation is here to stay. Unfortunately, although the advantages of globalisation get glowing coverage from some journalists, there's no rational discussion about some of its disadvantages and how they should be handled. It is impossible to discuss these issues rationally when people such as Dennis Shanahan take such an extreme position. 

As well as contributing to the creation of hundreds of jobs, Dick Smith Foods is enabling me to use my marketing skills to help Australian businesses that lack those skills. A company like Kraft can spend millions of dollars marketing peanut butter. Through its network of international contacts, it can call on the skills of very best – and highest-paid - marketing people in the world. Small Australian business simply can't do this. So I'm putting my skills at their disposal, and I'm getting tremendous satisfaction out of giving them a boost.

Experience has taught me that it would have taken me 10 or 15 years to create even one manufacturing facility for a food company from scratch. I feel that by doing things the way I have done them with Dick Smith Foods I can help Australian farmers and food producers a lot more simply - and a lot more quickly. 

We are also supporting Australian charities. This is not something that writers such as Dennis Shanahan and television commentators such as Stuart Littlemore can bring themselves to mention. They haven't told their audiences about the $600,000 that we have given so far to charities such as the Salvation Army. 

Of course, I give money away purely for selfish reasons - it gives me immense satisfaction. I am also well off so I don’t need any more money.

I understand that most foreign companies give the majority of their charitable support in their home countries. This is logical, but just another disadvantage of the lack of balance of foreign and local ownership in this country. 

I believe it’s sad that Dennis Shanahan and a small number of journalists have taken such an extreme position in attacking me. With over $80 million of sales of our products in the last 12 months, it is obvious that the marketplace has shown that many Australians agree that there needs to be a fairer balance between Australian and foreign ownership.

This article was written by Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods.