The Tasmanian Government welcomes the new $110 million Commonwealth initiative which will support access to key export markets for Australia’s valuable agricultural and fisheries sector.
Tasmanian exports have been hammered in recent weeks due to the significant decrease in international passenger flights reducing overseas freight capacity, and that has impacted demand for our premium produce.
The International Freight Assistance Mechanism will help to facilitate the export of our high-quality produce, with return flights bringing back vital medical supplies, medicines and equipment.
In addition, the Commonwealth will inject an additional $49.8 million into the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) scheme in the 2019-2020 financial year. This funding will assist to offset expenses incurred by Tasmanian exporters who have invested funds to grow new and existing overseas markets now impacted by the pandemic.
The Tasmanian Government remains committed to growing trade and support our businesses to build export capabilities where and when it can and it’s important we continue to do all we can to assist our high-value Tasmanian agriculture, horticulture and fisheries exporters get their produce onto international flights and into overseas markets.