Our expert guide to the 2015/16 Federal Budget – Agribusiness: what you need to know

Agribusiness

The 2015 Federal Budget offered incentives for Australia's agribusiness industry and the primary producers who are its lifeblood. Amongst the budget measures announced last night are the following packages that will impact the industry:

• a small business package that includes tax deductions for items costing less than $20,000. Small farming businesses will benefit from this accelerated depreciation. These arrangements start from the Budget night and continue until the end of June 2017;
• the ability to claim full tax deductions for spending on fencing and water infrastructure. This measure will not come into place until July 2016;
• the ability to claim depreciation on fodder storage investment over three years;
• the extension of the Drought Concessional Loans and Drought Recovery Concessional Loans scheme for another year until June 2016;
• the Northern Australia Infrastructure facility which will see loans become available for the enhancement of roads, dams, pipelines and power plants in Northern Australia. This is in addition to the $100million Beef Road Fund which was announced by Tony Abbott during Beef Week in Rockhampton last week and aims to enhance livestock transport across Northern Australia;
• the re-introduction of incentive payments to encourage doctors to practise in rural and regional Australia.

As the Government has flagged agribusiness as one of the five national investment priority areas (along with resources and energy, major infrastructure, tourism infrastructure and advanced services and manufacturing and technology) these announcements go some way to bolstering the needs of the sector.

This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.