Traditionally, the VAR literature has focussed on at most two country/region models. A multi-country SVAR highlights the importance of various international inßuences on a small open economy Using the example of the effects of US and Japanese shocks on the Australian economy we show that incorporating both of these economies as international inßuences, and accounting for possible multicollinearity between output variables, makes a substantial difference to the amplitude of the impulse responses recovered from the system.