Australian Crafts Alliance · Creative Women’s Association, Secretariat

Endorse the
Minimum Standards.

ACA has established the Minimum Standards for the Australian Crafts and Industrial Provenance Sector. Endorsing them is a public statement that this sector deserves recognition, infrastructure, and legislative protection.

Endorse the Standards Read the research →

What are the Minimum Standards?

A floor, not a ceiling.
The baseline Australia needs.

The Minimum Standards for Australian Crafts and Industrial Provenance are ACA’s proposed baseline for how Australian craft practitioners and producers should be recognised, remunerated, classified, and protected. They are not aspirational targets. They are the minimum conditions required for the sector to function with integrity.

They are benchmarked against existing industrial instruments and international frameworks including Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, Italy’s Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, the Harris Tweed Act, and the EU’s extension of Geographical Indications to craft and industrial products.

Endorsing the Minimum Standards does not create legal obligations. It is a public declaration that your organisation or practice stands behind the principle that craftsmanship deserves recognition, fair remuneration, and formal sector infrastructure.

0
Existing industrial awards that cover craft practitioners
178
Countries that have ratified the UNESCO Intangible Heritage Convention — Australia is not one of them (UNESCO, 2024)
2028
EU Digital Product Passport compliance deadline — Australian textile exporters without verified provenance records face exclusion from European markets

The Minimum Standards

Twelve standards.
All of them achievable.

These are the minimum conditions ACA proposes for the Australian Crafts and Industrial Provenance Sector. Each has a direct international precedent and a practical operational model.

1
Recognition as skilled economic activity
Craftsmanship — tangible and intangible — must be recognised as skilled economic activity within workforce, procurement, economic measurement, and institutional systems.
2
Provenance: attribution, origin, and integrity
Craft and industrial goods must carry clear provenance. The Southern Cross Mark certifies an individual maker and object; a Geographical Indication certifies a place-based category of goods. A single object may carry both.
3
Certification of practice and practitioners
Certification pathways — Certified Craft Practitioner (CCP) and Certified Craft Atelier (CCA) — must exist, backed by a national Practitioner Register.
4
Documentation and registration
Practitioners and practices must be identified, documented, and registered in the Geographical Indications Directory for Crafts, Industrial Products, and Cultural Works.
5
Succession and transmission
Systems must support knowledge transfer from experienced practitioners to those who carry it forward, including funded succession mechanisms.
6
Sovereign manufacturing integrity
Claims that goods are Australian-made must be verifiable. Australian cloth must be made in Australia, by Australian hands, to declared methods — certified by the Southern Cross Mark.
7
Economic recognition and remuneration
Practitioners must be remunerated at rates reflecting skill, knowledge, and provenance value, backed by enforceable remuneration mechanisms.
8
Visibility in national data
Craft and industrial work must be visible in national workforce, economic, and policy datasets, with formal sector classification.
9
Trades and industry, not arts
Craftsmanship must be classified, for policy and portfolio purposes, as Industry and Trade — not as a subset of the Arts.
10
Geographical Indications and CIGI coordination
A national GI and CIGI Hub must convene producer groups, maintain the evidentiary record, and provide stewardship once a mark is granted. A dedicated CIGI statute is the longer-term goal.
11
Accredited Craftsmanship Centres
“Skills are freedom.” A national network of Accredited Craftsmanship Centres — guilds, studios, working farms, and craft, industrial, and produce enterprises — must be established and government co-invested.
12
Craftsmanship in education
Hand-based craft activity must be reinstated in school curricula. Crafts and Industrial pathways for girls must be recognised as equivalent to trade apprenticeships for boys, with credentialled higher education and VET pathways.

Why endorsement matters

A public record
of who stood behind this work.

Minimum standards campaigns work because they create a visible, growing record of organisations and individuals who committed to a principle before it became law. The Harris Tweed Authority built industry consensus over generations before the 1993 Act gave it statutory force.

“The infrastructure already exists. What is required now is the political will to recognise it.”

ACA is not asking endorsers to lobby government, fund legal action, or commit to any specific advocacy activity. The endorsement register is simply a public record of organisations and individuals who have read these standards and found them reasonable — and who are willing to say so publicly.

That record matters. Government ministers, departmental advisers, and parliamentary committee chairs look at the breadth of support behind a policy position before they act on it. Every endorsement adds to the weight of the case.

Who should endorse

Anyone who believes
this work deserves recognition.

Endorsement is open to individuals, organisations, guilds, studios, working farms, educational institutions, businesses, and government bodies. No membership requirement, no cost.

Makers
Individual craft practitioners
Weavers, ceramicists, jewellers, leatherworkers, blacksmiths, textile artists, and any maker whose practice would benefit from formal sector recognition.
Guilds & studios
Craft organisations and making spaces
Guilds, cooperative studios, makerspaces, and craft schools whose members work across Australian craft and industrial production.
Producers
Working farms and industry
Wool growers, fibre processors, mills, and manufacturers seeking Geographical Indication and provenance recognition.
Education
Educational institutions
TAFEs, universities, art schools, and vocational providers whose programs include craft, heritage skills, or industrial trades.
Business
Brands and retailers
Fashion labels, homeware brands, galleries, museums, and retailers who source from Australian makers.
Advocates
Supporters and allies
Anyone who has read the standards and believes the sector deserves formal recognition in Australia.

How to endorse

Simple. Public. Free.

Endorsing the Minimum Standards takes less than two minutes. Your name or organisation is added to the public endorsement register on this page, with a confirmation email and a digital endorsement badge if you’d like one.

1
Complete the form
Name, organisation (optional), and your role or practice area.
2
Confirm your endorsement
A single checkbox confirming you have read and endorse the Minimum Standards.
3
You’re on the record
Your name is added to the public register. Download your endorsement badge if you’d like one.
Endorse the Minimum Standards → Read the full research first

The work is done.
The standards are written.

What is needed now is a visible public record of support. Every maker, guild, organisation, and institution that endorses these standards adds to the weight of the case for legislative recognition.

Endorse now Australian Crafts Alliance →
Australian Crafts Alliance · Secretariat: Creative Women’s Association · ABN 54 693 315 043 · Geelong, Victoria

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