Australian owned versus ethically produced

I bought the Ausbuy guide yesterday. It's a brochure that gets upgraded every few months and sells for a couple of dollars at the grocery store. It's a guide to which companies are Australian owned and which are now or always have been foreign owned. Upon looking through it I was pleasantly surprised. There are still alot of everyday brands owned here.

Here's a dilemma, however. Many of the non-grocery producing companies have moved their operations off-shore. If I buy a Bonds t-shirt, for example, which are made in China, how can I be sure it hasn't been made in a sweatshop? If I buy an ethically made t-shirt, I CAN be sure BUT the parent company may not be Australian.

That made me return to the original goals of this Footprints project. One of them was to have as big a footprint as possible on humanity in a positive way. It's great that profits stay here if companies are Australian owned. However, it's not great if items are being produced in sweatshops in order to ensure those profits. I simply don't want any part in that - if I can possibly help it.Therefore, my choice is clear. I will always try in the first instance to find a product that's made here, Failing that, however, I will try to find an ethically produced one or one made in a country that has similar labour laws to here. Not always possible, I know, but each time it is possible I'm making a big footprint. :)