News Australia’s latest national campaign, Back Australia: It’s Good For All Of Us, didn’t start in a boardroom or brainstorm. It began with readers.
As The Daily Telegraph editor Ben English told Mediaweek, “The germination of this idea was actually reader feedback. We did a whole series of stories in April about ‘Buy Australian’, and the sentiment was jumping out at us – people were extremely keen to do whatever they could individually to help Aussie companies. What they weren’t clear on was what was Australian, what wasn’t, and how that made a difference.”
That insight became the foundation for Back Australia, a movement designed to help Australians make informed choices about supporting local industries, creating jobs, and strengthening national prosperity.
Running until April 2026, and supported by partners including Harvey Norman, Australian Made Campaign, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP. The campaign will live across News Corp’s entire network, from The Australian and news.com.au to Taste.com.au, Escape, and Body+Soul.
Listening to readers, shaping the message
For News Australia Client Partnerships Managing Director Lou Barrett, the campaign’s strength lies in its authenticity, and in how closely it reflects the values of its audience.
“It’s quite amazing, because we’re constantly listening to our readers,” Barrett told Mediaweek.
“The most important thing for us is telling the stories that matter to ordinary Australians and raising the issues that affect their daily lives. We advocate on behalf of communities. Our journos work and live in those communities, so they understand and they hear. They’re great listeners – because being a great journo means being a great listener.”
Barrett says that collaboration between editorial and sales has been key.
“Interestingly, it was the editors who were out there selling this with me. And let me tell you, when you take an editor out to help you sell something, people listen to them a lot more than they listen to me,” she laughed adding:”How could they not?”
Barrett said the support for the campaign has so far been “overwhelming”.
“There’s not one client we’ve seen who has said no to this.”
A call to back ourselves
If the campaign’s timing feels deliberate, there’s a reason.
English said the events of recent years have reshaped the national mindset: “Coming out of COVID, there was a light-bulb moment for all Australians about how precarious our sovereignty is. We started thinking about things like how many days of oil we have left, or supply chain issues that became so prevalent during COVID. Clearly, something’s amiss in how we’re building a more prosperous nation.”
Barrett adds that Back Australia aims to reignite pride in what the country makes and does best.
“What we’re trying to do here is grow the wealth pie for all Australians. Our readers are telling us that Aussies are happy to pay a little bit more when they know their money is supporting Australia and their local community,” she said.
Each partner brand, she notes, brings a distinct story: “Coles is about supporting farmers, while Bunnings supports Australian companies and businesses. Harvey Norman has some great stories to tell about how they’re backing Australian companies. They’ve all got unique stories.”
English sees the campaign as a way to re-centre Australia’s innovative spirit.
“We are a can-do country, and a lot of that came from necessity, because of the tyranny of distance,” he said.
“But as everything became cheaper through global connectivity, we perhaps lost our way in terms of making and inventing things ourselves. This is very much going to explore that.”
Editorial integrity front and centre
With both editorial and commercial teams invested, English stresses that integrity sits at the heart of the project.
“It comes back to this: is this a yarn about real people and real lives?” he said.
“This is going to run for 10 days as an editorial campaign, followed by three weeks of commercial content. We’ve partnered with our sponsors to tell their stories about how they’re backing Australia, but you have to be clear from the outset about what they’re paying for.
“They’re not paying for us to be silenced on issues they may not like us covering. What they’re paying for is to be associated with a campaign that aligns with their values and their approach to business.”
That clarity, English says, ensures trust with readers remains unshaken. “From the outset, we’re saying this is, first and foremost, an editorial campaign.”
Unlocking reach and relevance
The campaign will span multiple titles, formats and audiences, from travel to wellness to finance, with all content made freely accessible.
“All the newsrooms are leaning into this,” English said. “There’ll be stories in Escape about Aussie holidays and supporting Australian travel companies, and across Body+Soul, Kidspot, and prestige titles like Vogue and GQ. News.com.au will take a more consumer-friendly approach.
“The other key thing is that we’re unlocking all this content. Obviously, we’re a business that relies on subscriptions, but this was a newsroom decision, not a corporate one, to unlock the content so we can get the message out as widely as possible.”
Behind the scenes, Barrett says there’s a “rich social and search plan” to drive engagement and participation.
Data with impact
At the heart of Back Australia is a compelling economic case.
Research from Westpac Economics reveals that if every Australian household shifted just $100 a week of their usual spending to Australian-owned goods and services, it could generate 40,000 new jobs and boost the economy by $16 billion in a single year.
“Even doing a fraction of that would still move the dial,” English noted. “It’s pretty remarkable, really.”
Source: Westpact Economics
A campaign for uncertain times
Barrett says the campaign’s broader goal is to bring optimism and agency back into consumer behaviour.
“It’s about getting more people buying Australian products – backing Australian businesses and buying more Australian products. That’s the metric,” she said.
“There’s a whole mood in Australia right now that’s really uncertain, and I think this gives people a bit of certainty. We all share a love for Australia, and nothing unites Australians better than backing each other.”
She added, “This is about empowering Australians to make informed choices – choices that will strengthen our economy and help businesses realise their full potential.”
Main image: Ben English, and Lou Barrett.