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Industry Partnership Program

Background

The Australian Government’s Industry Partnerships Pilot Programme was announced in May 2004 with $4.7 million for the first year. The pilot programme allowed a limited number of industries to participate in partnerships with government to identify their current situation and develop strategies for the future.

In the 2005 Budget, the Australian Government announced a three-year $15 million Industry Partnerships Programme as an extension of the pilot programme. The Programme is part of the Agriculture - Advancing Australia (AAA) package. AAA comprises an integrated suite of programmes designed to help rural businesses become more competitive, sustainable and profitable.

The Industry Partnerships Programme complements the other AAA initiatives by focusing on agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries to improve their:

Ability to continuously yield positive financial returns;
Capacity to operate in future environmental and social settings;
Ability to compete in the global marketplace;
Capability to respond to change and be flexible; and
Confidence to manage their affairs.

The Programme aims to achieve these goals by working with industries at a national level to:

Highlight the industry’s successes and build on its strengths;
Improve the industry’s ability to identify and respond appropriately to threats and risks;
Ensure key stakeholders throughout the supply chain and in supporting services contribute to the industry’s vision and directions; and
Develop skills and structures to improve industry and organisational capacity.

Measures such as information gathering and analysis, targeted workshops and training and industry leadership development are used to meet the outcomes for partnerships.

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The Tropical Fruit Industries Partnership Project

The Australian Federal Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has entered into a partnership under the programme with the various industry sectors that comprise the Australian Tropical Fruit Industry.

DAFF engaged Ridge Partners to facilitate the development of an Industry Partnership Project (IPP) for the Australian Tropical Fruit Industry, and make recommendations regarding the future industry direction and projects.

The IPP report can be downloaded by clicking on the following link - Draft Tropical Fruit Industry IPP Report.

It is expected that through the IPP, the Tropical Fruit Industry will gain the ability to address current and future threats and implement industry driven strategies as a combined force. At a Cairns Workshop in September 2004, industry stakeholders identified the following benefits that could result in working closer together through the IPP:

Opportunity to cooperate across sectors to address issues facing the tropical fruit industry;
Access to key decision makers to listen to and act on behalf of the tropical fruit industry;
Increased understanding of the consumer awareness and needs
Improved responsiveness to changing competitive marketplace
Improved coordination for employment for northern, regional Australia;
Access to AHC (Australia Horticulture Council)/HAL (Horticulture Australia Ltd) organisations and board members and the ability to take information from these agencies;
Building input supplier support and strengthening infrastructure;
Potential for enhancement of regional and social capacity.

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Projects

The industry workshop developed a number of industry driven projects to be undertaken in the second stage of the IPP. The Australian Government has provided funding support and expertise through Ridge Partners to work closely with the Australian Tropical Fruit Industry to carry out these projects. The identified projects were categorised into four Key Performance Areas (KPAs). These are:

KPA1A: Australian Consumer Markets

KPA1B: Export Consumer Markets

The Potential of Australian Tropical Fruits in Important Export Markets

KPA2B: Strategic Framework Development for Tropical Fruit Industry Capacity Enhancement

KPA2C: Leadership Development

Fostering Leadership in the Tropical Fruit Industry
Business And Marketing Training for Leaders in the Tropical Fruit Industry

KPA2D: Enterprise Labour Access

Attract Labour to the Tropical Fruit Industry

KPA3A: Information Tools

KPA3B: Communication Tools

KPA4: International Benchmarking and Competitiveness

Benchmarking Australian Tropical Fruit Industries

The Executive Summary of reports for projects KPA1A and KPA1B can be downloaded by clicking on the linked titles above. Full reports can be downloaded by selecting TFIPP Reports under the "Industry Issues" menu.

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