In this edition, we intended to continue our commentary on the Australian government grants that have been supplied for a range of different industries through the Business Growth Grant. However, last week, the Department of Industry made some changes to the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program of which the Business Growth Grant is a component.
Changes Made
The following industries were withdrawn from the eligible industries for support:
- Defence
- Energy, Water and Waste Management
- Tourism Sector
- Creative Industries
Changes were made to the definition of an eligible remote location business.
The revised list of eligible industries for the Business Evaluation Program and the Business Growth Grant are as follows:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Food and Agribusiness
- Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals – please note, in particular, the government has changed the program so that Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals doesn’t include:
- Hospitals
- Medical and Other Health Care Services
- Residential Care Services
- Social Assistance Services
- Retailers of Medical and Pharmaceutical Goods
- Mining Equipment Technology and Services
- Oil, Gas and Energy Resources
- Enabling Technologies and Services – this relates to businesses that provide enabling and supporting technologies or services to one or more of the five growth sectors, comprising:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Food and Agribusiness
- Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals
- Mining Equipment Technology and Services
- Oil, Gas and Energy Resources
or, if not already working with one of these sectors, have skills, capability, intellectual property or expertise to add significant value to the sectors in the future. These industries include:
- Freight and Logistics
- Infrastructure Related Construction (including construction, energy, transport, water, communication and waste)
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
- Professional Services
Detailed comments on the approved industries will commence this month and will continue over the next couple of months.
Advanced Manufacturing
Businesses that provide high value-added manufactured goods and service solution in the full suite of activities such as:
- concept;
- research and development;
- design;
- production;
- logistics;
- marketing; and
- after-sales services
or, if not, already engaged in advanced manufacturing practices, add potential to develop and embed high-value manufacturing capability or develop advanced business model manufacturing (eg servitisation and globally competitive design).
Advanced manufacturing is a set of leading-edge capabilities, processes, practices and technologies used in manufacturing, to add value to products and services to meet market demands.
Food and Agribusiness
Businesses that manufacture food and their non-food inputs (eg equipment and packaging manufacturers and suppliers, food safety services), as well as businesses that supply inputs to primary producers such as:
- manufacturers or suppliers of equipment;
- infrastructure (eg irrigation businesses);
- fertilisers;
- agronomy services;
- genetic services;
- marketing services;
- food safety services or agriculture; and
- veterinary chemicals.
For the purpose of the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program, food and agribusiness does not include businesses involved in the primary production of food, such as farming, growing or fishing.
Eligibility Criteria
The eligibility requirements for the industries identified in this article are as follows:
- The business must be operated by a company or by a company acting as trustee of a trust.
- The minimum turnover requirement is $1.5million and the maximum turnover is $100million.
- The business must have been operating for three years, not necessarily as a company for the entire three years, as long as there’s been a continuity of similar ownership by whatever means the business was previously owned.
- If the business is situated in a remote or very remote location, as defined by the Australian Health Department’s Maps, then the minimum turnover requirement is reduced to $750,000.
There’s a wide range of services that can be provided for companies under the Business Growth Grant. The general guideline is: any activity which will improve the business’ performance. This opens up a range of opportunities for accountants to offer worthwhile business improvement strategies for their clients.
ESS BIZGRANTS is a cloud-based technology that is available to subscribers 24/7, which enables subscribers to identify government grants for SME businesses.
You are invited to sign up for a no obligation, two-week trial of ESS BIZGRANTS, whereby you will be given the opportunity to test the system for a few clients. Visit www.essbizgrants.com.au to get started.
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