EMDG Newsletter July 2026 – A new financial year
We provide the following update on all things EMDG given the start of the new financial year.
Round 4 2025/2026 Milestone Reports
All lodged, done and dusted, it is now all about, “show me the money”.
Many thanks for all your help getting your required milestone reports in by the due date last month.
With a lot of huffing and puffing, we got there in the end. A good team effort.
Yes, Brooke, you were the last one we submitted, but that is just a secret between the two of us.
Austrade’s resources in recent weeks have been focused on the receipt of the milestone reports rather than any audit activity or payment.
This will now change and I expect a flurry of activity and payments from today.
At all times we deal with any queries that may arise on your behalf. Please do not contact Austrade, we will manage any audit assessments when they arrive.
Prepayment of 2026/2027 grant entitlements
For those clients who are on the $20,000 prepayment system for part of your grant entitlement, your 2026/2027 prepayment (unlike for 2025/2026 which was paid in June 2025) was not paid last month. It will happen soon.
Austrade advising in a recent email to us: –
“Initial payments for the 2026-27 grant year will begin from July 2026 for grantees who are compliant and have submitted their 2025–26 milestone report, once that report has been assessed.”
Not really a prepayment in my mind and the timing now depends on Austrade’s internal processing timetable.
Unlike us Austrade sets its own timetable we can only march to their drumbeat.
Austrade’s advice makes no reference to those clients who have already been assessed, but I imagine they will do it all at the same time.
The processing of the recently lodged milestone reports and the 2026/2027 prepayments means that this month (we hope so) will be a busy month for all.
EMDG 2025 Review – Report to be issued soon, very soon
The independent review of EMDG conducted late last year has been concluded with the final report given to the Minister on 21st May, somewhat later than originally promised.
The Minister is required by legislation to release the report within 15 sittings days of parliament. That means it will have to happen this week, before July 2, the last of the sitting days of the parliamentary winter session. It could even happen today.
Once it is released, I expect Austrade will provide details of the report findings (well they should) for you and all exporters on their database. We will provide an update at that time as well.
EMDG Round 5 – Coverage for 2027/2028 and 2028/2029
Round 5 will provide EMDG support for exporters from July 1, 2027, for the two-year period up to June 30th, 2029. Like before you will have to lodge an application in advance.
The timing of when the application process will happen, to borrow from Shakespeare “that is the question” we want the answer to.
We have previously indicated that this would probably follow the same timetable as Round 4 and occur in November of this year.
Now we are not so sure it could be delayed until early next year.
In the Senate Estimates hearing on June 5th, Dr Paul Grimes, the CEO of Austrade, stated: –
“… With the next round of EMDG, I would imagine and expect that it will be heavily shaped by any recommendations that the independent reviewer makes and, of course, the government’s consideration of those recommendations. We are imagining that we would be implementing the next round of the program once the government’s been able to consider the recommendations, and we’ve had an opportunity to make any adjustments within our internal processes…. It could be late this year; it could be early next year.”
The timing of the application process is 50% bet.
My preference is that it should happen later than sooner in the new year, to get the 2024 milestone process all finished first and not happen in a rush.
Again, once we hear from Austrade, we will provide an assessment to you of the merits of a Round 5 application.
All the best,
Stuart