The Morrison Government must explain why taxpayers have been billed up to $10 million for a new national brand logo that one of its own MPs describes as “a cross between the coronavirus and bird poo”.
 
It emerged yesterday that Trade Minister Simon Birmingham approved a report by the National Brand Advisory Council which rejected the kangaroo as our global product symbol even though it is “the most internationally recognisable”.
 
Instead, the council recommended using the image of a wattle, which it described as an “optimistic burst of gold positivity” with “pollen-laden stamens radiating a sense of energy and dynamism”.
 
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said today the decision to sideline the kangaroo was a “dippy idea”, describing the wattle as “a cross between the coronavirus and bird poo on your windscreen at 80km an hour.”
 
The report notes that the design was “market tested” to 16,000 people in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the US and the UK, and was reviewed by international semiotics experts.
 
Tender documents show that the Government paid an advertising agency about $3 million to come up with the new logo.
 
Additionally, the Austrade annual report for 2018-19 shows the Government paid a market research firm more than $420,000 in that year alone.
 
Austrade allocated a total of $3.2 million for the development of a “new national brand” in 2018-19.
 
Media reports suggest the whole exercise has cost taxpayers $10 million.
 
Labor calls on Senator Birmingham to explain how taxpayers are receiving value for money.