EMDG Review 2026: What Comes After ‘First In, First Served’

A completed government review wants to scrap the rush-to-apply model behind Australia’s export grant scheme. Here’s what it means for your export plans.

If you have ever tried to lodge an EMDG application on opening day, you already know the drill. In November 2024, funding for one of the program’s most popular tiers ran out in just 3.5 hours. Businesses that spent weeks polishing their export plans missed out because someone else hit submit first.

That’s the system a newly completed independent review wants to end.

Trade Minister Senator the Hon Don Farrell appointed senior trade and investment official Timothy Yeend to lead the independent review, and welcomed the finished report on 2 July 2026. The Export Market Development Grants Independent Review 2026 is now public on the Austrade website. The government says it will respond to the review’s 29 proposals in due course. No changes have been locked in yet. But the direction is clear: EMDG is set to move away from speed and toward substance.

What Is the Export Market Development Grant?

The EMDG has run since 1974, matching grant funding to Australian small and medium businesses working to sell their products and services overseas. Austrade, which runs the program, says it has supported more than 51,000 SMEs marketing goods and services into over 180 countries.

The current round (Round 4) covers the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years, with up to $104.5 million available in grant funding each year. Businesses apply to one of three tiers, or as a representative body supporting exporter members:

Businesses can draw on EMDG for up to eight financial years, with a lifetime funding cap of $770,000. To qualify, a business needs an active ABN, annual turnover under $20 million, and the capacity to spend at least $20,000 a year on export marketing.

Why the Review Happened

The Export Market Development Grants Act 1997 requires an independent review of EMDG every five years, which is why this one happened. Public consultation ran through to September 2025 before Yeend’s report went to the Minister.

The review acknowledges the program’s value and history, backing more than 51,000 SMEs since 1974. But it flags rushed applications and inconsistent quality control as the model’s main weak points.

The trigger for public attention, though, was the November 2024 application rush. Under the “first in, first served” model, businesses raced to submit as soon as a round opened, and the fastest applicants won funding regardless of how strong their export plan actually was. Yeend’s review found this approach risked rewarding submission speed over the quality and strategic value of a business’s export plan, which works against the program’s goal of backing capable, growth-ready exporters.

The Core Changes on the Table

Timothy Yeend’s report puts forward 29 proposals. The ones most likely to change how you apply:

1. Drop first in, first served. Applications would move to a merit-based assessment that weighs a export plan of a business, its capability to deliver, and the likely return from the funding, not just whether it met the eligibility bar first.
2. Simplify to two tiers. Instead of the current tier structure, the review calls for a broader split between businesses exporting for the first time and those expanding an existing export footprint.
3. Look at artificial intelligence for assessment. Austrade would look at using artificial intelligence tools to help process and assess the volume of applications a merit-based system would generate.
4. Simplify the application itself. The review calls for the process to stay as simple as possible, acknowledging that a merit-based system adds work for applicants compared to a straightforward eligibility check.

The remaining proposals, roughly 25 of the 29 in total, cover smaller process and data changes, from how Austrade collects program data to how it identifies high-impact exporters earlier in the process.

Industry Reaction Is Mixed

Industry reaction leans supportive. The Export Chamber of Australia’s own modelling puts the return on EMDG funding at $2.10 in exports for every dollar granted, a figure the sector points to whenever the program’s future comes up. By that measure, EMDG sits among the more effective grant schemes currently running in Australia.

But the Export Chamber has flagged a gap: the review doesn’t call for more total funding. The organisation has described EMDG as chronically under-funded, arguing the program could sit closer to $300 million a year rather than its current $104.5 million.

The export sector is also cautious about the move to a merit-based assessment. A quality review is actual work for SME applicants who have to put together a submission. If businesses lose out despite having made that investment, it would likely feel like a much bigger blow than simply running out of money. The Export Chamber’s preferred fix is more targeted: lift the minimum turnover threshold to filter out businesses that are not export-ready, and add performance checks before releasing follow-on funding, rather than building a full competitive grant assessment around every application.

The Artificial Intelligence Question

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to help assess EMDG applications is the review’s most talked-about proposal, and the most divisive. The concern raised by industry is straightforward: businesses will likely use artificial intelligence tools to draft their export plans, and Austrade will use artificial intelligence tools to assess them. It is an odd loop. But with several thousand grant agreements to process each year, manually reading and weighing every application under a merit-based system may not be realistic without some automated support.

Minister Farrell has not confirmed how, or whether, AI will factor into the government’s formal response.

What This Means for Your Export Plans

Nothing changes for Round 4 applicants right now. But if a merit-based model does replace first-come, first-served, the businesses that benefit will be the ones with a genuinely strong export plan on paper, not just a fast internet connection on opening day.

A few things worth doing now, regardless of when reform lands:

• Develop your export strategy as if it were a real business paper, not a form you complete and file away. When competing for resources, it is the quality of that strategy that sets you apart.
• Get your financials and export capability evidence in order early. A quality assessment will likely want to see that you can back up your plan with real business capacity.
• Do not wait for Round 5 to start thinking about eligibility. Round 5 is not expected until mid-2027, covering the 2027-28 and 2028-29 financial years, and the outgoing review’s conclusions may shape its rules before it opens.
• If you are eligible now, apply to Round 4. The current round still runs on the existing rules.

This is exactly the kind of shift where getting advice early pays off. Pattens Group works with exporters on export plans and grant applications that hold up under scrutiny, whichever assessment model ends up governing EMDG.

EMDG Round 5 Outlook

Round 5 does not have a date yet. Going by the program’s usual two-year rhythm, it is on track for around mid-2027, covering the 2027-28 and 2028-29 financial years. If the Yeend review’s changes make it into EMDG, expect to see them first in the 2026-27 or 2027-28 Federal Budget, well before that round opens.

If you are considering an EMDG application, or want your export plan reviewed before you apply? Get in touch with Pattens Group to talk through your options.