No love for entrepreneur programs in this year’s budget

The Australian startup sector didn’t get a great deal of love from this year’s federal budget. Outside of a handful of measures, most of the benefits were tangential. So it’s hardly surprising that there was no mention of any new or previous entrepreneur-focused programs, such as Boosting Female Founders (BFF), or any other startup-specific funding.

Perhaps the answer lies in last year’s budget, which saw $392.4 million over four years earmarked for the Industry Growth Program. This was to support Australian startups and SMEs in commercialising their ideas and growing their operations. 

It’s worth noting this program was targeted specifically towards businesses operating within the priority areas of the National Reconstruction Fund.

And this was certainly a win at the time. Roughly six months earlier, during the October 2022 budget, the Entrepreneurs Program established under the Morrison government was defunded. This saw $197.7 million over four years redirected.

That same budget also committed $5.8 million over five years to support the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship program, as well as undertake an independent review of existing STEM programs.

What about Boosting Female Founders?

The absence of Boosting Female Founders (BFF) from the 2024-25 budget is entirely unsurprising. Its problems have spanned across two governments and included email doxxing, incorrectly telling unsuccessful applicants they had been successful, and rejecting some applicants due to incorrectly assuming their husbands were also founders of their businesses. 

Over the past two years, the third round of the program has been plagued by delays, resulting in women founders having to sit on matched funding. For some, this went on for upwards of 18 months and threatened the future viability of their businesses.

They also reported lax and delayed communication from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR). This also applied to those who were eventually awarded a grant, who had to wait months between being told of their success and actually receiving the funds. This came with its own critical complications.

The problems with Round 3 of BFF culminated in March when an FOI investigation conducted by SmartCompany into emails between DISR and grant applicants revealed just how dire things had gotten.

At the time, DISR wouldn’t confirm or deny the future of BFF. At the time of writing there also hasn’t been any communication regarding round four of the program opening for expressions of interest.

We were curious to see whether it would perhaps be replaced with another program to help women founders get access to funds. After all, BFF was a program the Labor government inherited from the Coalition.  

As it turns out, there was nothing nestled amongst the budget papers for anyone who considers themselves to be an entrepreneur in need of a governmental cash injection.

On the plus side, $55.6 million is being invested into launching a Building Women’s Careers program. It aims to deliver 10 large-scale projects (and several smaller ones) that will support the access of women to flexible training in key industries such as clean energy, construction, tech and advanced manufacturing.

A further $38.2 million over eight years – and $1.3 million ongoing – will go towards supporting diversity in the STEM workforce.

According to the Women’s Budget Statement, this is a direct response to the Pathway to Diversity in STEM review.

The funding will go towards Women in STEM and science engagement programs that are “creating positive change to attract and retain more women, and other under-represented groups, in STEM education and jobs.” 

To see SmartCompany‘s full budget coverage, click here.

Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.