The word ‘startups’ only appeared once in the 2024 federal budget
This year’s budget was quiet for the startup and tech sectors. In fact, the word ‘startups’ only appeared once across all four budget papers.
Last year’s federal budget saw some welcome inclusions for the startup and tech sectors. This year is much quieter. In fact the word ‘startups’ only appeared once.
As we pointed out in our budget lockup commentary, the government opted for a somewhat back-to-basics approach this year, meaning there weren’t a great deal of line items specifically for the startup sector.
There wasn’t any kind of funding for entrepreneur-adjacent programs like in past years. Really, the closest thing was $1.7 billion for the Future Made In Australia Innovation Fund.
But the details so far around that have been vague. It’s also only going to be beneficial to startups operating within “priority” sectors such as renewable hydrogen, green metals, low-carbon liquid fuels and clean energy manufacturing.
Sure, the tech and startup sectors weren’t completely ignored in the budget — but most of these fell into key industry areas or had a strong crossover over with SME benefits. This includes things like the extension of the instant asset write-off,
Of course, there was also the $1 billion set aside for PsiQuantum, but only $470 million of that is coming from the federal coffers. It was also announced weeks ago.
So how did startups factor into the federal budget?
Unfortunately for most Australian startups, the only callout the sector received was for a deeply specific program relevant to South-East Asia.
It’s also something that had already been announced.
About $4.8 million across four years has been earmarked for two additional “Landing Pads” for Australian tech startups. This is part of Austrade’s Landing Pads program, with the two new locations in Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta.
This expansion of the program, which is already operating in Singapore, was first announced back in March.
The bottom line: not only were startups largely left out of the budget, but their one mention was old news.
To see SmartCompany‘s full budget coverage, click here.
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