Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Labor welcomes the tabling of the 2015 review of the Export Market Development Grants scheme. The Export Market Development Grants scheme encourages small and medium Australian businesses to develop export markets. It was, of course, an initiative of the Whitlam government, in 1974. Like many initiatives of the Whitlam government, the Export Market Development Grant scheme has endured. Fortunately, the Export Market Development Grant scheme has endured with bipartisan support. It has strong support from both sides of politics because it is good for business and it is good for the economy.

The shadow minister for trade has noted before that Labor is disappointed that the Abbott government has not pursued reforms to the scheme which were proposed by the former government. Labor, in government, sought to realign the Export Market Development Grants scheme to support small businesses exporting to East Asian and frontier and emerging markets.

Michael Lee was appointed as the independent reviewer of the EMDG scheme in December 2014. In the course of his review, Mr Lee received submissions from a very broad range of stakeholders. He convened public meetings attended by businesses and individuals, he consulted industry organisations and he met with representatives of state and federal governments. I join with the Minister for Trade and Investment in acknowledging Mr Lee's presence and thank him for his review. I acknowledge also the public servants who worked on the review.

The review contains a number of very important recommendations, and we look forward to hearing from the government about whether it will accept the recommendations that have been made in the course of this review. We will look carefully at the review itself and very carefully at any government response, which we hope will be substantive and timely.

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