Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Australia chief Carol Hanlon sounds off on the recent Federal Budget and its implications for the sector.
TCF Australia is most concerned about the early cutting of TCF Industry Support Programs announced in the recent Federal Government budget.
These valued Industry support programs were scheduled to finish 2015 and have been cut short one year early, at a time when all areas of the textile clothing and footwear Industry are struggling through the entire supply chain to manufacture within Australia.
In particular, the TCF Small Business Program provided up to $50,000 for an Australian fashion and apparel firm to improve their enterprise culture through the support of a grant to assist them develop new equipment processes or develop management ability to improve competitive advantage by manufacturing locally designed and made product.
The Australian fashion & TCF industry has suffered from the continued importation of large volumes of low cost ‘fast fashion’ through the 15 per cent reduction in import tariffs over the past 10 years.
In six months there will be a further five per cent reduction.
This is compounded by the large increase of international fashion retailers which have established major retail outlets across Australia,
This imported ‘low cost’ product is increasing pressure on the Australian designer and Australian fashion retailer who are quickly losing market share to compete in their local market place.
Now is not the time to cut support to this creative and innovative small business sector which has the potential to target global export markets if they can gain assistance at this most critical time in the future of the Australian fashion and TCF undustry.
This $2.5 million annual TCF SBP program has assisted many of our small business designers and manufacturing network across Australia in past years.
By keeping this program running until 2015, it would assist a further 50 Australian designers and local manufacturers that include bridal, swimwear, uniforms, fashion, evening, sportswear, menswear, womenswear and childrenswear to name just a few.
Only a few days ago did I meet with a local Victoria Park WA small business looking to improve their enterprise culture to bring the manufacture of their TCF product to WA, where at present they need to freight their niche product from a Melbourne factory with huge additional daily/weekly freight costs.
The TCF Small Business Program would have been ideal for this firm to improve their enterprise culture to bring their timelines, service delivery of their unique speciality TCF product to be locally made in WA.
Australia wants to celebrate its fashion designers at Fashion Weeks across the country and globally with Federal and State Government representatives laying claim to local fashion design talent.
But how can the industry continue to survive, when support programs like this are being cut short?
During the Productivity Commission hearings into the Australian TCF Industry in 2003, I presented that the ABS statistics on the TCF sector were not an accurate indication of those working within the sector.
These statistics did not count home-based, self-employed designers, nor did they count designers producing and retailing their own label like thousands of bridal and evening wear designers do across Australia.
Another support program that has been cut short is the Building Innovation Capability Scheme (BIC), which was to assist firms in the innovative textile production and/or processes.
These firms develop cutting-edge textiles that can be used in a vast array of new world medical, construction, defence, homewares and marine industries to name just a few.
This is not the time to cut Australia off at the knees to lose its competitive textile innovations one year earlier than scheduled.
We urge Minister Macfarlane, Minister for Industry to reconsider the cutting of these TCF support programs and consider the loss of design, creativity and innovation to Australia.