Improved Passport Services
The Budget provides for a new five-year passport, which will be
offered to Australians aged 75 and over at half the standard price
from 1 July 2002. This passport addresses the needs of senior Australians
who may wish to travel overseas.
The Budget also provides for up to $3.0 million in 2002-03 for
research and development of a facial biometric identifier for the
new Australian passport by the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT). Introduction of biometric identifier would strengthen
current identity verification processes and significantly improve
the detection of fraudulent passport applications.
Strengthened passport integrity is an important element in combating
terrorism and transnational crime. Development of a biometric identifier
would be in line with action taken by other countries. Contingent
on successful research, a decision on the introduction of biometric
identifier could be made in the next year.
Increasing exporters and developing new trade opportunities
The Government is committed to developing and expanding opportunities
for Australian exports.
The Budget will commit $21.50 million over four years to help more
small businesses become successful exporters. This funding will
extend and expand the successful TradeStart export assistance network.
TradeStart is a Coalition initiative to ensure small and medium
companies in regional Australia get the support they need to succeed
in international markets. More small businesses engaged in exporting
means greater opportunities for job creation. As many regional and
rural communities depend on small business for the strength of their
economies, a greater export focus will bring real benefits to the
regions.
The Government's funding will continue TradeStart for another four
years, and open 10 new offices in key regional areas. Subject to
negotiations with local partners, the new offices will be in Dubbo,
Penrith, Sutherland (NSW), Emerald (QLD), Bunbury (WA), Geelong,
Mildura (Vic), Port Lincoln (SA), the Adelaide-based Australian
Wine Export Council, plus one other location. The 10 new offices
are in addition to the already 24 TradeStart offices opened since
1996.
The Government had also decided to roll the Export Access programme
into TradeStart, to improve the services delivered to companies
in metropolitan and regional areas. TradeStart operates as a partnership
between the Government's trade agency Austrade and local partners
- including chambers of commerce, private sector organisations,
and State and Territory Governments. By leveraging Austrade's knowledge
of international markets with its partners' local expertise, TradeStart
has proven a cost-effective and highly efficient way of helping
companies into export.
The Budget also commits $1.6 million over four years to double
the minimum grant under the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG)
scheme. More than 250 small businesses each year will benefit from
the Government's decision to increase the minimum grant from $2,500
to $5,000.
The Government is committed to double to 50,000 the number of exporters
by 2006 and the EMDG scheme will play an important role in helping
small businesses break into exporting for the first time.
The EMDG scheme provides assistance to small and medium Australian-based
companies trying to break into export markets. It reimburses 50
per cent of eligible export marketing expenses, less the first $15,000.
The Government's initiative to double the minimum grant will build
on the improvements built into the scheme by the Government last
year.
Aid Budget Highlights
Australia will provide$1.815 billion as official development assistance
(ODA) in 2002-03, an increase of $90 million over the 2001-02 budget
figure of $1.725 billion and a real increase of 3 per cent. This
is an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.25 per cent, placing Australia consistently
above the donor average which in the latest year available (2001)
was 0.22 per cent.
In 2002-03, Australia's aid program will retain its strong focus
on the Asia-Pacific region where it makes an important contribution
to regional peace and stability as well as to poverty reduction.
Australia's commitment to the nations of the Pacific will continue
with total aid flows increasing to $165 million including increasing
funding to the Solomon Islands, resuming a full bilateral aid program
to Fiji, and increased support for the Vanuatu Government's efforts
to promote prosperity and stability. Aid to Asian countries will
be maintained with funding to Burma increasing and continued significant
support to Indonesia to assist its reform agenda. Further funding
will be provided for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Funding for humanitarian, emergency and refugee programs will reach
$116.4 million, the highest level yet. A special $15 million international
refugee allocation will be available to assist refugees and internally
displaced people. Increased funding will be provided for developing
country access to education and information through the Virtual
Colombo Plan, and an increased volunteer program. An additional
commitment of $18 million will be provided over three years to support
debt relief in the poorest countries. Trade-related assistance
of around $25 million will strengthen developing countries' capacity
to participate in global and regional trading arrangements.
