In 2011-12, Australian Government budgetary outlays, tax concessions and import tariffs provided Australian industry with $17.3 billion in assistance in gross terms, according to the latest annual review by the Productivity Commission.
After allowing for the cost impost of import tariffs on industries using goods as inputs, the net assistance received by industry was estimated at $10.5 billion.
The majority of this is budgetary outlays and tax concessions of around $9.4 billion, while the net tariff component amounted to around $1.1 billion.
Trade & Assistance Review 2011-12 sets out the Commission's latest estimates of the Australian Government's assistance to industry. It also documents recent industry and trade policy announcements.
The effective rate of assistance for manufacturing is around four per cent and three per cent for agriculture.
The effective rate of assistance to the motor vehicles and textile, clothing and footwear industries is around nine and seven per cent respectively. Although much reduced over recent decades, these rates remains well above the average for manufacturing.
The Review notes that, since May 2012, the Australian Government has made announcements involving proposals for a further $430 million in budgetary assistance to industry, most to be spent over the next five years.
This support predominantly relates to transitional assistance to the fishing industry, the automotive New Markets Initiative, tourism programs and carbon emission reduction and energy efficiency measures.
The Review also reports on intellectual property (IP) systems, the design and implementation of which has important implications for Australia's innovation and trade.
The Commission has also recently completed a report on Compulsory Licensing of Patents. These reports could provide a base for further work on what is likely to be an area of increasing trade and innovation policy interest.
The inclusion of IP in the global trading system that accompanied the establishment of the World Trade Organisation in 1995 signalled a significant elevation of IP in economic policy making.
Given the capacity for IP systems to facilitate or inhibit innovation, creative activity and trade, it is important that the design, operation and review of IP systems be carefully governed, the commission pointed out in the review.