Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Molan for his question and his particular interest in seeing businesses across New South Wales seize the opportunities created by our Liberal and Nationals government to grow their export markets, to export their goods and services around the world to the many locations in which Australia and our government in particular has been able to negotiate preferential access for them. The EMDG scheme has assisted over 50,000 Australian small and medium sized exporters to get their goods to market. It's done so particularly under our government thanks to a funding boost to the scheme of some $60 million over five years. In the 2017-18 financial year, the scheme supported nearly 3,400 recipients of more than $115 million in grants. Importantly, these recipients reported export earnings in excess of $3.8 billion.

It's good investment in helping particularly small and medium sized businesses to seize the opportunities. Indeed, nearly 76 per cent of recipients were small exporters reporting an annual income of less than $5 million and having fewer than 20 employees. These are the businesses our government keeps backing time and time again. We're backing them with our tax relief for small businesses. We're backing them through our investment in increased market access and trade development support for those businesses. Indeed, in New South Wales around 1,400 businesses received an EMDG payment over the 2017-18 financial year, with funding of more than $52 million provided, and in particularly entrepreneurial electorates, if I can single one out, like Wentworth: 129 exporters received support; 129 predominantly small and medium sized businesses seized the opportunity of our Liberal and Nationals government to grow their export markets into the future. (Time expired)