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Keeping watch on the floor of her family’s leather factory, Tanya van der Water is proud of her skilled team. Each year they hand craft more than 300-thousand items.
“We specialize in leather goods. And today we are known for our tool belts. All of our leather is from Australian grown beef cattle, and it's produced in tanneries Melbourne and in Queensland.”
Tanya’s business Buckaroo Leatherworks based at Bellambi, south of Sydney is among more than 4,500 businesses to display the Australian Made logo.
“We joined the Australia Made campaign in 1999, and we were business number 27 to achieve that status. It's really important. There's a sentiment associated with that label that we don't take for granted, and it means a lot in terms of the trust that you can have for that product.”
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agrees and this week urged people to get out and buy Australian Made. It’s his way of boosting local industry, as American President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs begin to bite. It is a move welcomed by CEO of the Australian Made Campaign Ben Lazzaro.
“When you buy Australian made, not only are you getting products made to some of the highest standards, both from a quality and safety point of view, you're also pumping money back into the economy. You're keeping people employed. In our most recent survey, we saw overwhelmingly over 90 per cent of consumers, they want to see more Australian made products. They want to support local businesses and perhaps even more excitingly, three quarters of them are willing to pay more for those products.”
A federal budget due to be handed down on March 25 is to include extra incentives for a buy Australian campaign. That’s because tariffs and fears of a looming trade war are adding to business uncertainty, according to Australian Industry Group which represents more than 60,000 businesses employing more than one million staff. CEO Innes Willox explains:
“What the Trump tariffs will do is put a massive fear into the Australian economy that we will be impacted directly and also indirectly, that we'll be continued to be caught up as collateral damage in a global trade war. For Australian businesses that are already doing it tough in a flatlining economy, this volatility is the last thing that they need as they prepare for the future and try to work through what will be a very difficult 2025.”
Australia’s Manufacturing industry contributes 30-billion dollars of value-add to the economy each year, according to Ai Group. Yet Mr Willox says profits are being impacted by a range of factors.
“The big challenges for 2025 are lingering inflation, high interest rates, high energy costs, concerns about energy, reliability, and still ongoing concerns around labour and skill shortages. Businesses is struggling to find the workforce that it needs to allow it to grow.”
Hiring local workers from diverse backgrounds is one way Buckaroo Leatherworks can meet rising demand for its products, says founder Tanya Van der Water.
“It is difficult to find new staff at times. We often are hiring on qualities that are completely outside, whether or not they have experience in leather work. So that's for a reason. We do do training on the job here. The passing down of knowledge we take very seriously. It is something that allows for newcomers to see that there's pride in the work that they can produce here, and that's why we do have that mix, especially of ages and demographics across our team.”
Among recent hires, Monique Prenol who began a fulltime role in February.
“I'm training in nail bags at the moment. I'm really enjoying it, working with my hands, and every step someone's checking it to make sure it's a really quality product.”
The Australian Made label is bestowed on goods that are certified Australian manufactured or grown. And they must meet some of the worlds strictest labour, safety and quality control standards, as Mr Lazzaro explains.
“The Australian made logo is Australia's most recognized and trusted certification trademark for Australian products. It's used on tens of thousands of products sold here and around the world.”
A focus on quality is a selling point in a market that’s being flooded by cheaper foreign imports, says Tanya Van der Water.
“We certainly don't compete at price point, but it is very difficult, the flood is real. There are products coming from all over. These are very cheaply made leather goods, but they are taken up by the bigger resellers, the bigger retailers because it's assumed that if it's cheap it will sell.”
As well as growing a business, Tanya Van der Water is raising five children. She took over the reins aged 26 from her father Ken who died of cancer in 2013. He had earlier fled South Africa’s notorious apartheid system with his wife Carol Pickering:
“We started the business in the early 70s and we were based in Cape Town. When there was the first uprising against the government because of the apartheid system, this was followed by lots of riots. The crime rate escalated. Our premises were looted. And then one of the neighbouring businesses, the owner was found murdered and then that sent signals to us that we need to leave.”
Prior to fleeing South Africa, the Van der Waters were among families displaced from a suburb in Cape Town to make way for new housing development, as Ms Pickering explains.
“The government looked at it and thought, well, this is a really good area. We'll make this a whites only area. Everyone at the time was moved to an area called the Cape Flats. And in the Cape Flats there was hardly any infrastructure, limited transport, very few schools, hardly any shops. When we decided to leave, we virtually walked away from all that and we had to leave on an exit permit being non-whites.”
As new arrivals in Australia in the 1980’s the family settled south of Sydney and soon after reopened their leather business.
“There was a looming recession. So, we were told we'd be accepted on condition, we were going to open up a business and employ locals and not be a burden on the social security system. That's what we signed up for and that's what we did!”
Tanya Van der Water has big plans to expand further this year, and hopes her skilled team will keep the family business going strong for another half century – at least!
“We always want to be known as a diverse employer. It speaks to the responsibility that we have as immigrants to this country as well. It's a part of what makes our culture working here so great!”
