Supporting our rural and regional industries

Promoting Australia's competitive advantages and boosting Australia's agricultural sector

Promoting our competitive advantage

The Government is helping Australian businesses with the transition into smart, high‑value, export‑focused industries.

Industry Growth Centres will identify opportunities to reduce regulatory burden, increase collaboration, improve engagement with international markets, and enhance workforce skills. Centres will be established for advanced manufacturing, cyber security, food and agribusiness, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, mining equipment, technology and services, and oil, gas and energy resources.

Developing our resources

The Government is supporting a competitive resources sector through the $100 million Exploring for the Future programme which will produce the next generation of pre–competitive exploration data and stimulate a new wave of exploration investment.

Agricultural competitiveness

The agriculture sector exports over $40 billion worth of goods each year and is vital to Australia's ongoing economic strength. To ensure its ongoing competitiveness, the Government's Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper is investing $4 billion to:

• help farmers innovate through the $200 million extension of the Rural R&D for Profit Programme;
• help farmers take advantage of trade opportunities provided by our export trade agreements; and
• help build drought resilience by providing more support to communities.

$2 billion National Water Infrastructure Loan Facility

New water storage and pipelines will provide security to farmers. In the 2016-17 Budget, the Government will provide for a $2 billion National Water Infrastructure Loan Facility to support major water infrastructure projects. The Facility supplements the $510 million National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.