Call for tax breaks to help lift output

THE Business Council of Australia will take a deeper look into what incentives are needed to help smaller businesses ramp up production.

Speaking after touring Geelong producer Farm Foods, the business council’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said that without lowering Australia’s corporate tax rate from 30 per cent, the Federal Government needed to have further tax-based incentives to encourage business to invest and create jobs.

She said ideally a national broadbased investment allowance should be introduced to give companies a tax concession.

Based in breakwater, Farm Foods is planning to ramp up its export operations in a bid to capitalise on booming demand for plant-based burgers and other meat substitutes while its value-added meat lines are also growing.

A recent agribusiness analysis by the CSIRO forecasts demand for alternative protein sources of food to grow dramatically, both here and overseas, over the next decade.

It estimated the domestic and export opportunity for alternative proteins could reach $4.1 billion and $2.58 billion by 2030, up from 2018 levels of $2.2 billion and $1.5 billion respectively.

Ms Westacott said Geelong had a competitive advantage in high valueadded food production and high value-added manufacturing involving advanced materials and technology.

As a highly technical operation producing a high-quality product, Farm Foods was indicative of where the opportunity to grow the regional economy was coming from.

Ms Westacott said companies such as Farm Foods, which employed 73 staff, needed to invest in technology to be competitive but with a view to creating more jobs as it unlocked new markets.

After speaking to Farm Foods chief executive Greg Hughes about the need for investment incentives to support growth, Ms Westacott said the business council would take a closer look at what could be done for smaller business ready to ramp up production.