31 March 2022

Within the Federal Budget 2022-23, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to delivering benefits for Australian businesses and laying the foundational steps toward a world-class cross-border trade system.

Of most significance, and specifically of benefit to exporters, $267.1m has been invested in a whole-of-government, Simplified Trade System that will streamline trade processes, reduce the cost and time of exporting and make it easier for agricultural businesses to compete internationally.

The measures include:

• $127.4 million to continue and expand the Digital Services to Take Farmers to Market initiative to transform the delivery of Government agricultural export systems.

• $80.0 million to provide additional support for small and medium export businesses to re-establish their presence in overseas markets through the Export Market Development Grants program.

• $48.0 million to modernise Australia's trade system, reduce the regulatory burden on exporters and identify opportunities for further reforms.

• $11.7 million to expand the Trade Information Service to provide exporters with a single source of online information to facilitate access to international markets.

The funding is a welcomed and considerable increase on last year’s Budget, which had only allocated $37.4 million over three years for Simplified Trade System reform.

Currently in Australia, more than 28 Commonwealth government agencies administer regulations that impact cross-border goods and private sector feedback during consultation has confirmed that Import and export processes are expensive and time-consuming.

Therefore, close engagement between the Simplified Trade System Taskforce and business will be critical to co-design reforms that deliver better regulations, business processes and solutions to simplify border systems and services and consultation with the private sector is a must to deliver the best outcomes for business.

Check out the full coveragefrom the Federal Budget 2022-23, which will continue to develop throughout the week as new insights and video content are published.

References:

https://www.austrade.gov.au/simplified-trade-system-home

https://budget.gov.au/2022-23/content/bp1/download/bp1_2022-23.pdf

https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/pbs-2022-23-foreign-affairs-and-trade-portfolio-budget-statements-2022-23.pdf