The Good Oil by Rod Brown *
A large part of my company’s work is accessing Federal program funding, or cutting through the red tape for clients. In coming months, we will provide some tips on dealing with government, and if you get stuck, perhaps we can assist. As a starting point, don’t be crass by giving the impression that ‘the money’ is the overriding objective – winning the hearts and minds is the pitch, and be ready to put your own money – aka ‘hurt money’ – on the table. Also please note that support through Ministerial championing may be more important than money.
Now, let’s get a feel for the structure of the Federal Government, and where the money and influence lies. It is convenient to think of the Departments as follows:
- Departments with a strong economic/industry focus – Industry, Technology Resources (ITR); Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Australia (AFFA); Communications, IT and Arts (DOCITA); Transport and Regional Development (DOTARS)
- Departments broadly in the social sphere – Health; Family and Community Services (FACS); Environment (and Australian Greenhouse Office); Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), Education, Science and Technology (DEST), Veteran’s Affairs
- Mainly management or control Departments – Prime Minister and Cabinet; Defence, Immigration and Ethnic Affairs; Treasury; Finance; Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
There is obviously some overlap, but the point is that there are communities of interest within these categories. This means that an official in say, ITR, should be able to refer you to the right area or person in DOTARS, AFFA or DOCITA.
Go to the web sites of these agencies and get a feel for which of their priorities match yours. Canberra does not have bucket loads of cash waiting to throw around. It lies in pockets, but there are strings attached.
Why deal with officials? Why not go straight to the Minister?
The reason is that there is now a major emphasis on accountability and transparency. It kicked off with the Ros Kelly whiteboard affair. Remember she was pilloried for using a whiteboard – shock horror! Then in the mid 1990s Senator Bronwyn Bishop made her mark by crucifying officials in Senate Estimates about deficiencies in their program management.
The end result is a mind boggling set of program guidelines, rules and regulations. The days of Ministers doing deals over a long lunch are over, and they need good reasons to reject their Department’s recommendations on who should receive grants.
Note also that Federal officials rarely provide advice these days to applicants, due to the risk of being seen to favour one applicant over another.
It is a highly competitive situation. This means organisations seeking government funding or support must be committed and well resourced.
Most small councils are thus out of their league. Another thing to bear in mind is that the administrative and reporting procedures required by Federal and State agencies can be quite onerous, especially if the recipient doesn’t have the mentality or experience.
On the plus side, councils that successfully administer grants from the Federal Government can build a reputation and track record that can translate into other opportunities.
Next month we will discuss how councils can collaborate with the Federal Government before programs are in place.
Furniture
I attended a very interesting function hosted by the Furnishing Industry Association of Australia (FIAA) at Parliament House last month. It is part of ITR’s series of industry action agendas. The furnishing industry in Australia is surprisingly big – it employs 94,000 people and generates around $8 billion of sales.
But it is facing considerable import competition – for example the value of furniture imports from China has risen 828 per cent over the last six years.
One of the key points flagged at the function is that we are not maximising our design skills and timber resource.
The FIAA has done well to recruit a highly respected champion in Gerry Harvey, boss of Harvey Norman and Domayne. He spoke at the function about the need for the local industry to get its act together – 70 per cent of Gerry’s furniture sales are Australian made because he pushes local suppliers.
He wants the share to grow. The answer seems to be an increased emphasis on quality and the development of value chains, networks and clusters, and joint ventures with overseas groups to facilitate access to bigger markets.
There is, I suspect, an attitudinal hurdle with Australian consumers – hard to explain, but Aussies see a dining table as something to eat at – whereas Europeans see it as a family asset.
Furniture design and manufacture is an important industry in most regions, and there is huge potential to better blend its wares with the lifestyle industries, such as housing, food and tourism. If you would like more information on how to work with the FIAA please contact us.
States not happy with AusLink
As we forecasted in March, the Australian Local Government Association, NRMA et al had a win with Auslink funding for the Melbourne-Brisbane road system. In an election year the AusLink package was always a monty, but it was never going to get rave reviews from the States.
Federal Transport Minister Anderson says it’s pathetic that the States are complaining that they weren’t getting enough money soon enough. Anderson was no doubt miffed because AusLink had been his pet project and, he boomed, “Since when have any of their transport ministers or their governments put increase into their road funding of that sort of magnitude?…
It just shows that they have no adequate response. They apparently feel the need to be highly political, to say something, anything, to be critical…but what it also shows, of course, is that they lack a national focus.”
Anderson can himself be accused of politicising the issue, given the timing of the announcement. In any event, Finance had the major say, because there is too much expenditure in the out years, and not enough of it, in my opinion.
Although the deal is done, if the coalition is returned at the next election, the Nationals have every right to take on Finance to bring some of the expenditure forward and to provide more funding for South Australia and Western Australia, which are only modestly supported by the new program.
And they might add an argument for an AusLink Stage 2 that more strongly integrates the different transport modes. AusLink is a bit soft on this score, despite the rhetoric.
Alexander the Great
What is it with Foreign Ministers? They certainly have healthy opinions of themselves. Gareth Evans set the tone and now Alexander Downer is perfecting it. Perhaps the answer lies with all the forelock tugging courtesies extended by foreign dignitaries and the army of DFAT officials scattered around the world.
Downer is a diligent and knowledgeable minister, but his brow beating of anyone who sees things differently is working against him. His premature posturings that the Australian Government knew nothing about ill treatment of Iraqi prisoners certainly raised eyebrows in some Canberra circles.
Let’s see what happens on the issue of US bases on Australian soil. This has been quietly handled to date, but could soon become a major issue.
* Rod Brown’s Canberra based consultancy group, Australian Project Developments Pty Ltd, specialises in industry/regional development and government liaison. For further information telephone (02) 6231 7261 or email apd@orac.net.au
