Choose Australia first: AFA

The Australasian Furnishing Association (AFA) has launched an unprecedented campaign to support jobs in the Australian furniture industry, in a bid by the industry to stave off up to 10,000 jobs at risk due to COVID 19.

An ongoing survey that commenced in July 2021 revealed the devastating impact of COVID 19 on the sector.

Australian furniture factories were closed for many months by the pandemic, and although the economy is predicted to rebound, manufacturers expect their sales to be down by an average of 25-30% this year. Around half also believe they may be forced to make redundancies of between 10 and 50% of their workforce or go on to part time working in the autumn.

The AFA’s ‘Choose Australia First’ campaign aims to make people aware of the jobs at stake in the wake of COVID 19 and to encourage consumers to seek out Australian made goods.

“These are unprecedented times and this is an unprecedented step by the whole of the Australian furniture industry which is coming together for the first time to support jobs across both manufacturing and retail,” says AFA spokesperson, Joe Perri. “The home market is worth $14 billion a year and if you add in the whole of the furnishings sector along with retail, the industry supports some 500,000 jobs. And every extra $1m spent on Australian furniture could support up to 50 manufacturing jobs in the sector.”

Concerned by the near-collapse of High Street retailing during the height of the pandemic lockdown, the AFA decided to launch its campaign to boost autumn sales of Australian made furniture. And a snap poll carried out supports its belief that Australians would back Australian if they knew what was at stake. It revealed:

• More than three-quarters (78%) of those questioned said their buying decision would be influenced if they knew buying Australia would help safeguard 46,000 jobs in the country with women (83%) more likely than men (71%) to be swayed by that knowledge.
• The effect of COVID 19 on the economy has had a significant impact on buying decisions. More than a third (34%) said that they’d be more inclined to support buying Australian furniture than they were 2 years ago (before COVID).
• Half those questioned (50%) had bought furniture in past 12 months although nearly a quarter (24%) didn’t know where it was made. Younger people are more likely to have bought all-Australian with a third of 18 – 34-year-olds (33%) saying everything they had bought was made here.

According to the AFA, 75% of furniture bought in Australia is imported. “Our cabinet making industry has virtually died out and we import nearly as much upholstery as we make,” said Mr Perri. “Only in mattresses do we have a relatively healthy home market but even that’s crept up from just 21% of imported sales 30 years ago to the current 75%.”

“Australian furniture manufacturing has dramatically declined over the past 50 years, mostly because of cheaper labour in other countries,” said Mr Perri. “Factories overseas don’t always meet Australia’s requirements for a minimum living wage, safe working conditions and product compliance standards.

“Choose Australia First is critical to the future of our industry which is why we are launching this campaign to raise awareness of the jobs at risk. We need to stop the rot and reverse the trends if we are to support jobs, increase the amount of products we make in this country and encourage investment in much needed skills for our young people.”

Other findings from the poll:

·         Those in the 18 – 24 age group are the most likely (68%) to have bought furniture in the past 12 months while the over 55s were the least likely (34%).

·         The buying decisions of those in the 35 – 44 age group were more likely to have been affected by COVID 19 with 38% of that group saying they’d be more inclined to buy Australian furniture now than they were 2 years ago, before the pandemic (average 34%).

·         Regional variations were apparent too:

–           Of those who had bought furniture in the past 12 months, Sydneysiders were the most likely to have made a purchase (61%) and those in Perth the least (35%) (national average 50%).

–           People living in Queensland are the most patriotic with 29% of those questioned saying everything they had bought, furniture-wise, in the past 12 months, was made in Australia (national average 13%). Along with people in South Australia, 86% of those polled said knowing that buying Australian furniture would help safeguard 46,000 jobs would influence their buying decision (national average 78%).

–           Those least likely to know where their furniture was made (36% in each city said they didn’t know, national average 24%).

Look out for chooseAustraliafirst accredited suppliers.