The Export Market Development Grants Act 1997 mandates an independent review of the program every five years.
The Minister for Trade and Tourism has appointed Timothy Yeend to conduct the next independent review of EMDG.
The review will explore how the program has operated since the last review in 2020 and ways to improve how EMDG supports exporters, collaboration with representative bodies, and coordination across government.
The independent reviewer, Timothy Yeend, is inviting public submissions and circulating a survey. All interested stakeholders will have an opportunity to have their say. The reviewer will then undertake meetings with interested stakeholders in key capital cities.
To find out more and to have your say, go to Consultation and engagement.
The reviewer will provide a final report to the Minister for Trade and Tourism.
Austrade sought feedback in 2023 from EMDG recipients, businesses and other stakeholders. This was done to consider improvements to the EMDG program that would:
Findings from this consultation and previous reviews helped inform changes to the EMDG program.
Read the EMDG program strategic refocus - consultation summary.
Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism, released the EMDG Operational Review in 2023.
To help improve delivery of the EMDG program, the review considered program design, client experience and communications.
Read the Operational review.
In 2020, the Review of financial assistance to SME exporters, the Fisher Review, was published. It is the most recent independent review of the EMDG legislation.
The Fisher Review considered how government could better assist small and medium exporters to increase export sales through EMDG. It recommended simplifying and streamlining EMDG to help SME exporters.
Read the Review of financial assistance to SME exporters.
This 2023 report analyses how businesses that received a grant have performed. Austrade’s Office of the Chief Economist conducted this research.
The analysis shows:
Read the Assessment on the value of EMDG.
This report profiles EMDG recipients, including:
Statistics across 3 rounds of the EMDG program show:
Ten years’ worth of EMDG reimbursement scheme and program data shows, on average, exporters have:
Read the Profile of EMDG recipients as of February 2025.
For statistics on individual grant rounds, see Statistics and data below.
This survey, undertaken in January 2022, measured grantees' experiences with EMDG Round 1.
Read the EMDG Applicant Survey Results 2022 (DOCX 392KB).
Austrade engaged Paper Giant in 2022 to survey grant agents about their experiences with EMDG Round 1. This information helped Austrade to improve the EMDG program, including communication.
Read the Export Market Development Grants Program Research Report, including an evaluation summary.
Read key statistics on past grant rounds including application data, export market analysis and grant delivery data.