Snapshot of budget fallout for the commercial fishing industry
Seafood Industry Australia has provided a snapshot of the 2022-23 Federal Budget with a number of announcements set to provide support to the Australian seafood industry.
The headline announcements are:
Fuel excise
- To help bring down petrol prices, the government is cutting the fuel excise in half for a six-month period. Formal clarification on how this will interact with the Fuel Tax Credits scheme is yet to be advised.
Ag 2030
Key measures include:
- $114.6m over five years for forestry and fishing sustainability
- $61.6m for biosecurity infrastructure
- $12m for trade events
- $15.4m for agricultural shows and field days
- $6.6m for the AgMove program
Small businesses
- Small businesses, with aggregated annual turnover less than $50 million, will be able to deduct a bonus 20 per cent of the cost of business expenses and depreciating assets that support digital uptake. This is capped at $100,000 of expenditure per year and is designed to drive improvements in areas such as cloud computing, cyber security, accounting and e-invoicing software and web page design. It will come at a cost of about $1 billion to the Budget.
- Small businesses that invest $100 in skills and technology training for employees will be eligible for a $120 tax deduction.
- Small businesses who invest $100 in the “digital revolution” such as web design or development, web security etc. will be eligible for a $120 tax deduction.
Employers and employees looking to upskill
- Small businesses will also have access to a bonus 20 per cent deduction for the cost of external training courses delivered to their employees by providers registered in Australia.
- The budget also contains a number of tweaks to visa conditions and costs, in an effort to attract international students and backpackers back to Australia.
South East Trawl Fishery structural readjustment
- A $24million package has been provided to support the structural adjustment of the South East Trawl Fishery and safeguard its sustainability.
- This package has been delivered in response to quotas set for the 2022-23 fishing year announced recently by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA).
Environment
- $100 million over three years has been provided to fund community-driven action to help restore the environment.
- $26.8 million over five years has been provided for the management and protection of Commonwealth National parks.
- $1 billion over nine years has been set aside for the Great Barrier Reef with the majority of the funding going towards improving water quality, with the balance for reef management and research.
Regional Australia development plan
- $7.1 billion has been allocated over 11 years to support a new ‘Energy Security and Regional Development Plan’. The money will go towards co-investment with States and Territories, or private companies, in everything from upgrading ports and roads to building dams and logistic hubs in regional areas including the Pilbara and the Northern Territory.
- $2 billion has been allocated for a new “Regional Accelerator Program”, which brings together existing schemes designed to improve skills, education, exports and supply chains in the regions.
- There’s also an $1.3 billion injection to improve mobile phone coverage and internet in regional/rural areas.
A comprehensive overview of budget measures available here.
A copy of the Treasurer’s speech is available here.
You’ll find more detail on the budget here.