Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia produces three times the food it needs. This fact alone demonstrates how important it is that we export our produce to international markets, and that's without mentioning other key exports like iron ore and coal. The Export Market Development Grants Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 demonstrates the Morrison-McCormack government's commitment to supporting our vital export industry. There are now a record number of Australian businesses exporting goods. There were over 56,700 goods exporting businesses in 2018-19. This is up seven per cent on the previous financial year and 27 per cent since 2013-14. One in five jobs in this country depend on trade. Australian exporters, on average, hire 23 per cent more staff, pay 11 per cent higher wages and have labour productivity 13 per cent higher than non-exporters.

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Export businesses are highly productive because they compete in a global market and need to be efficient to be competitive. Therefore, cutting red tape, increasing access to international markets and providing financial support to these businesses is hugely important. Our comeback after COVID depends on jobs and increased productivity. Doing so will mean more jobs and more productivity as our economy recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the measures outlined in this bill and several other initiatives, we are opening an ambitious export growth agenda and supporting our vital export industry. This in turn supports highly productive Australian jobs and enterprises.

Local exporters in Robinvale Fred Tassone and Donny Gareffa have talked with me many times over the last 12 months about export difficulties, whether its market access or trade arrangements and agreements. This year they have a bumper table grape harvest, and the big issue for them is the export market. This legislation is one key to assisting our farmers to do what they do best: grow and sell. Packages developed by the government to assist producers, including the Busting Congestion for Agricultural Exporters package and the International Freight Assistance Mechanism, are part of the solution. The Morrison-McCormack government continues to pursue and adopt several important trade deals and open up new markets when diversification is needed.

Other businesses in my electorate of Mallee are benefiting from our export agenda. I recently met with Robert and Vanessa Woodward of Woodward Foods in Swan Hill, who have an ambitious export agenda of their own. Their exceptional business stems in part from its longevity. It was established in 1888, and the business now has over 600 employees. Robert and Vanessa, along with their CEO, Brett Buktenica, pride themselves on their vertically integrated paddock-to-plate business model. While they maintain a focus on their valued domestic customers, the business has expanded its reach globally, accessing several of the world's biggest markets, including China, Japan, India and Indonesia. Australia has fostered free trade agreements that have delivered higher incomes, more job opportunities and higher growth for businesses such as Woodward Foods and many more around the nation.

The bill currently before the House drives on the Morrison-McCormack government's export agenda through further supports for our nation's exporters. The bill currently before the House implements several changes to the Export Market Development Grants scheme, or the EMDG scheme. This is a key government financial assistance program, supporting exporters to increase their marketing and promotional activity in international markets. Since it started in 1975, the EMDG scheme has supported over 50,000 small and medium exporters to enter and grow their export markets, whether they are products, services or intellectual property.

The bill enacts the recommendations of the review of financial assistance to SME exporters. Extensive consultation was undertaken by the reviewer, with a direct email sent to over 5,000 interested parties, including past and current EMDG recipients, EMDG consultants and peak bodies, informing them of the review and alerting them to the opportunities to have their say and provide input. The review then found that the government should continue to provide financial assistance to SMEs to encourage them to enter and grow export markets but noted that the way this financial assistance is provided should be simplified by removing complexity, by streamlining and by providing more certainty.

As it stands currently, the EMDG scheme reimburses costs to exporters. This process sees exporters waiting up to two years for payments, with no guarantee of full reimbursement. With the proposed changes, the scheme will be transformed to an eligibility based grants program to encourage export-ready businesses to increase their exports and diversify their markets. Grants will target eligible export-ready SMEs with an annual turnover of less than $20 million. This will provide eligible businesses with certainty through up-front funding agreements across multiple years for marketing and promotional activities, enabling them to plan their activities with confidence. The operation of the program will be simplified and streamlined, cutting red tape and making the scheme easier for exporters to access. The eligibility threshold will also be lowered from $50 million to under $20 million in order to ensure this funding is targeted to where it will have the greatest impact and achieve the best outcomes.

The coalition has progressively restored funding to the Export Market Development Grants scheme, delivering over $200 million in additional funding to the scheme since 2013. This government's investment in the scheme fully restores and provides additional funding on top of Labor's $100 million worth of cuts to the scheme from when they were last in government. As part of the COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund, the Morrison-McCormack government provided nearly $50 million in additional funding for the 2019-20 financial year, bringing the annual appropriation for the EMDG scheme to $207.7 million—it's highest level in more than 20 years. This government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting exporters through this scheme and will continue to do so with these changes by making it easier to access and more effective in its delivery.

Since I stepped into my office in May 2019 I have walked alongside my exporters through an incredibly difficult 18 months, particularly for those in the agriculture and horticulture sectors, who have faced drought, high water and energy costs, workforce challenges and COVID-19. I'm absolutely focused on supporting our exporters now more than ever, so I welcome this bill. I know that this government's measures to support exporters and increase access to trade markets will be welcomed by growers in my electorate, particularly those in the table grape and citrus industries. Recently I was contacted by several table grape growers, who've expressed concern about ongoing issues with one of their major markets in China. Growers, including Maria Iudica, Mark Zappia, John and Tereena Marlais, Adrian Cordoma, Michael Snadden, Zoe Dichiera, and Guiseppe Romeo, came to me with their concerns. I've heard their concerns and I've taken them on board and communicated them.

I want to reassure growers that the government is monitoring the situation closely and is working through diplomatic channels to ensure our produce keeps moving. I've been working closely with both Minister Littleproud and Minister Birmingham to ensure they understand the unique challenges facing our region from a farmgate perspective. The ministers are well aware of the issues facing producers in Mallee and are working tirelessly through each commodity, one by one, to make sure these issues are resolved, noting that these challenges are best resolved through open and respectful dialogue.

The Australian government faces a dilemma of balancing Australia's trade interests against issues of foreign interference and protecting our nation's sovereignty and strategic interests. The government will continue to work collaboratively with industry and our trade partners to ensure we strike the right balance. Notwithstanding the government's desire to resolve these issues, diversification and expanding into new markets will continue to be important to industry. I understand this is easier said than done. Relationships with importers are often built up over years of doing business and accessing new markets doesn't happen overnight.

Diversification may lead to short-term pain for producers, but we need to have a long-term view. We need to consider what the next five, 10 and 15 years looks like. This is why the government is working to support industry by opening up new market access and negotiating new free trade agreements, having brought into force trade deals with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru; pursuing trade agreements with the European Union and the United Kingdom; and building on our relationships with Japan and Korea.

I'm particularly excited by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which brings together 15 Indo-Pacific countries into a single framework. The agreement includes nine of Australia's top 15 trading partners and delivers a range of improvements over our existing agreements with these nations. We've also signed a bilateral agreement with Indonesia known as the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Under this agreement, over 99 per cent of Australia's goods exports will enter Indonesia duty-free or under preferential agreements. I hope this will lead to more favourable trading conditions for exporters of red globe table grapes who encountered issues with the Indonesian market at the start of the year before the agreement was ratified.

Continued growth in exports to premium markets is vital to Australian agricultural industries and regional economies, and maintaining strong relationships with our trading partners is critical to ensuring success especially now in a post-COVID world. That's why the government is introducing a package of reforms to slash unnecessary red tape to get products to export markets faster and support jobs in regional Australia. The Busting Congestion for Agricultural Exporters package will work to maintain and strengthen existing access to premium overseas markets and provide an immediate freeze on fees and charges to assist exporters with the impacts of COVID-19.

The centrepiece of the reform package is the Digital Services to Take Farmers to Markets measure, which will modernise Australia's agricultural export systems by slashing red tape and improving regulation and service delivery for our producers and exporters. This measure will transition our systems online and provide a single portal for transactions between exporters and government, streamlining processes for exporters and helping them experience faster and more cost-effective services.

The most recent ABARES Agricultural Commodities Report has shown that the gross value of Australian agricultural production is forecast to increase to $65.1 billion in 2021. This is in spite of the fact that Australian agricultural exports are expected to take a seven per cent hit on what has been an exceptionally difficult and unprecedented year. The government's ambitious export agenda and the suite of measures designed to support our nation's exporters, including the improvements to the Export Market Developments Grant scheme, will pave the way for future growth, job creation and prosperity, including in my electorate of Mallee.

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