Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to firstly congratulate the government and particularly the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr—and I understand that the minister here is representing Senator Kim Carr today in relation to questions on his portfolio—on what the government has been doing to support businesses and enterprises across this country, including in my electorate. I also congratulate the government on acknowledging the importance of supporting industry innovation and on the range of programs that this government has implemented, not just in this budget but in previous budgets, to support innovation and R&D to help businesses build their enterprises and expand, hopefully, into exports as well.

One of those programs is the $34.4 million Buy Australian at Home and Abroad initiative, which was recently announced. This is the one I would particularly like the minister to address. It is great that the government acknowledges that some suppliers are missing out because of established global vendor lists and the trend towards pre-assembled modules. Having said that, major resources projects provide significant opportunities for Australian suppliers, and it is my understanding that that is what this initiative is about—taking advantage of those significant opportunities that will be before Australian suppliers and helping them to grow. Minister, perhaps you could advise the House how the $34.4 million Buy Australian at Home and Abroad program is going to provide that support and assist those businesses to take up those opportunities and deal with those many challenges that face them. I understand that will include new Enterprise Connect business advisors. I know the new Enterprise Connect business advisors that are operating around the country have been working very well already. If I understand correctly, that will be expanded through this program. I am interested in hearing some more about that and how it will help suppliers across the country.

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