Incentive is a powerful tool in so many ways.
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So often something can a worthwhile pursuit, but without a bit of assistance it can run out of puff and forever disappear.
And so if there can be some way to dangle a carrot out front, it needs to be pursued.
That might seem like a vague, generalist notion, but when it is applied to business it makes incredibly good sense.
After all, industry in the Australia of today is expected to be the absolute best in order to succeed.
The gradual removal of the tariff regime in a range of industries proved that point.
If you could not make it on your own, using innovation and hard work, then you were never going to make it – it has become that stark a reality.
When you are competing other global players who have the added benefit of enormous economies of scale then it can be a difficult battle to even contemplate, let alone fight.
But getting rid of tariffs, it was made clear by successive federal governments, was all about weeding out those industries that in a way we had no business to be involved.
Thankfully though there has not been a prevailing attitude of doing it all off your own back.
It is common after all for some of most successful businesses to have struggled in the early days, while products were refined and new markets found.
That is where the principle of creating subsidies and other incentives have come in to play, often as the result of targeted lobbying by industry groups.
The thinking is that if a business can be helped to develop a specific product, then helped to get it into the hands of buyers, then it will greatly lessen the chances of being hit by failure.
One such example of this type of assistance is the federal government’s instant asset write-offs.
Farrer MP Sussan Ley wants businesses to make the most of what’s on offer. For one business, Lavington plastic jug maker Agboss, the benefits of doing so have been significant.
It has, for example saved in the region of $5000 on a new air-compressor simply by getting involved in the scheme.
We would therefore urge any Border business in need of similar assistance to check it out.
This could provide the door that opens up a better future.