Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today noting that this government is doing what previous Labor governments did not, and that is delivering on its election commitments. This bill gives effect to the coalition's trade policy, and the subsequent 2013 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook decision, to provide an additional $50 million over four years for the Export Market Development Grants Scheme. The coalition government wants Australia to be a country that makes sense.

The measures in this bill, combined with the repeal of the carbon and mining taxes, a company tax cut, cuts to regulation, road building, and workplace law reform, will benefit all manufacturers. This government pledged to provide an additional $50 million in Export Market Development Grants, and put an additional $50 million into a Manufacturing Transition Fund.

The Export Market Development Grants Scheme is an integral part of the export promotion strategy of many Australian exporters, especially smaller to medium sized businesses. For many exporters the scheme plays a significant role in their decision as to whether or not to export, which markets to tackle, and their export orientation—that is, what proportion of production to export.

At the same time, Export Market Development Grants Scheme support accounted for more than one-third of the export income for smaller to medium sized firms participating in the program back in 2003. Even today, without this support many of these firms would reduce their export efforts. The objective of the Export Market Development Grants Scheme is to bring benefits to Australia by encouraging the creation of foreign markets for Australian goods, services, intellectual property and know-how. This objective can be achieved by assisting with the development of an export culture, creating new exporters, assisting with the diversification of exporters into new markets, assisting with the generation of additional exports and jobs within Australia, and creating greater innovation within Australian businesses.

More specifically, the Export Market Development Grant Scheme is intended to encourage small and medium Australian businesses to develop overseas markets through the 50 per cent reimbursement of expenditure incurred on export promotional activities above $10,000, provided that the total expenses are at least $20,000. The agency which administers the EMDGS, Austrade, similarly provides a range of vital services to would-be exporters, such as advice on prospective markets and opportunities, on the ground support in target countries, trade exhibitions and assistance in finding potential investors. The Export Market Development Grants Scheme is an effective way of assisting the work of would-be exporters, and is a crucial investment program for existing exporters.

I well remember back when I was running an event management company that many of my major events that were trying to attract delegates from overseas particularly benefitted from the Export Market Development Grants Scheme. What it meant was that we could enhance our publicity and promotion, not just of the event but for Australia as a destination, enhancing the tourism sector. An important part of that aspect was a business matching program for many of our major events, where the client probably would not have gone to that expense if the export grant had not been available.

It is appropriate that Australian businesses are awarded Export Market Development Grants funds according to commercial realities as opposed to a decision by some politician or bureaucrat in Canberra, who is invariably far removed from what is happening on the ground. Yet that is exactly what the previous Labor government has done since 2007. They have meddled with the Export Market Development Grants Scheme, and, frankly, they have made a complete mess of it.

Soon after taking office Labor expanded the scheme by lowering the eligible expenditure threshold from $15,000 to $10,000, increasing the number of grants from seven to eight, and increasing the maximum grant from $150,000 to $200,000. This does not, on the face of it, sound like a bad idea. But, while the cost of these changes was estimated at $50 million a year, the previous, Labor government only provided increased funding for the 2009-10 year. Then, in June 2010, Labor amended the scheme to essentially reverse the 2008 implementation of their own election commitments. This was yet another example of the previous government saying one thing publicly and then deciding to break promises and election commitments. All the while, small and medium-sized enterprises in this case had absolutely no idea what was going on.

I have heard from the industry that from year to year they essentially did not know what the government would do with the Export Market Development Grants Scheme. We do know that tourism is one of the key export industries in this country. It is a growing one and certainly event promotion falls under this category. Some of the very important work is to promote events and exhibitions held in Australia, as well as destination marketing for international tourists. By cutting funds available through the EMDG Scheme, Labor made a bad situation worse for an industry already struggling from the high Australian dollar and the whole-of-economy carbon tax. Of course, the government is not responsible itself for the success and growth of tourism. That is being done by hardworking tourist operators.

The Export Market Development Grants Scheme forms an integral part of any government's approach to supporting small and medium-sized operators to get a foothold in foreign markets, whether that be Asia or our more traditional markets in the USA, Europe and Canada. However, what the Labor government did was to take a very piecemeal approach to the tourism industry. They did not have a coherent strategy, nor did they ever plan one. The cut of $25 million last year was yet another example of how they damaged tourism. Now the adults are back in charge. Exporters now have the certainty that an additional $50 million will be provided over four years to the Export Market Development Grants Scheme. The coalition took a strong plan for economic growth to the last election, and, now, in government the coalition is delivering.

See this speech in context