Business Grants

The grant opportunity is seeking applications from eligible service providers to deliver temporary employment placements through the Arts and Screen Employment Pathways Pilot Program (the Program).

The Program will match early to mid-career d/Deaf and disabled artists and arts workers with arts, cultural, screen and digital games organisations for temporary paid job placements of up to 12 months, for any art form and any position level across Australia.

The successful service provider/s will be responsible for recruiting, selecting and matching host organisations and participants, and providing oversight of the placements.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• where required by law, be registered for the purposes of GST
• be a permanent resident of Australia
• have an account with an Australian financial institution
• be a legal entity with the capacity to enter into a legally binding agreement or contract
• comply with all regulatory, industry and legal requirements in relation to copyright, licensing, employment, planning and environmental protection
• not have any outstanding reports, acquittals or serious breaches relating to any Commonwealth funding.

And be one of the following entity types:

• a company incorporated in Australia
• a company incorporated by guarantee
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• an incorporated association
• an incorporated not-for-profit organisation
• a sole trader
• a partnership
• a local or territory government agency or body
• an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.

Applicants are required to have disability skills and experience as well as experience in the arts, cultural, screen and digital games sectors. In addition, key personnel delivering the placements need to have lived experience of disability.

Applicants can apply either alone or in partnership with another organisation/s. Applicants who apply as a consortium must appoint a ‘lead entity’. Only the lead entity can submit the application form and enter into a grant agreement.

This quick response funding program is designed for domestic and international travel activity for NSW contemporary music artists, acts and music industry professionals.

Funding can support travel and accommodation costs for: 

Artists and Acts 

• domestic tours  
• domestic professional development opportunities, including performance at significant music market events, attendance at events, workshops, camps, mentorships and residencies 
• significant international professional development opportunities, including performance at significant international music market events, attendance at workshops, camps, mentorships and residencies. 

For domestic tours and performance at music markets, funding can support up to six people per touring party. This includes the artists and a maximum of two people with roles that support the artists to undertake the tour. These support roles include:      

• one operational crew member (e.g. tour manager or key technical production crew)       
• one support person for people with disability, family or cultural needs. 

Music Industry Professionals 

• domestic professional development opportunities for music industry professionals working in contemporary music to attend significant music market events and/or identified business opportunities 
• significant international professional development opportunities for music industry professionals working in contemporary music to attend international music market events and/or identified business opportunities. 

This program is open for applications until 24 April 2026, with applications assessed monthly. Applications submitted by 12pm (midday) on the last Friday of each month (excluding December) will be grouped together for assessment. Applicants will be notified of the decision within 4 weeks of this date. 

Eligibility

The fund is open to artists, acts and music industry professionals, as well as music businesses applying on behalf of an artist or act. 

Funding recipients must be: 

• 18 years or older 
• currently living in NSW (minimum 12 months) 
• performing or working in contemporary music. 

Applicants will need: 

• an active ABN (that’s your Australian Business Number) 
• a bank account with the same name as your ABN 
• or a funds administrator to help you out. 

For the purpose of this program contemporary music refers to artists and acts performing new and original music.     

• Artforms not supported through this program are:          
  • experimental music and sound art           
  • contemporary classical, opera, choral and ensembles           
  • music theatre          
  • working in and with community music groups.   
• These applicants should refer to Create NSW's Arts and Cultural Funding Program | NSW Government (ACFP) guidelines.

CRC Grants are part of the CRC Program. The CRC Program supports industry, research and the community in 2 ways:

• CRC Grants – support medium to long term industry-led collaborative research of between 3 and 10 years.
• CRC Projects (CRC-P) grants – support short term, industry-led collaborative research, for up to 3 years.

CRC Grants provide funding for collaborations to solve industry identified problems.

CRCs must:

• be a medium to long-term industry-led collaborative research program
• aim to solve industry identified problems and improve the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian industries
• include an industry-focused education and training program, including a PhD program that builds capability and capacity
• increase research and development (R&D) capacity in small to medium enterprises (SMEs)
• encourage industry take up of research

There is no specified limit to funding for each CRC. However, the number of CRC Grants funded in each selection round depends on the applications received and available funding.

Applicants must at least match the amount of grant funding sought through cash and/or in-kind contributions.

Eligibility

Eligible activities must relate directly to the project and may include:

• new research
• proof of concept activities
• pre-commercialisation of research outcomes
• industry-focused education and training
• conferences, workshops and communications
• related information sharing and communication initiatives
• collaboration with international organisations providing national benefits to Australia.

You can only spend grant funds on expenses outlined in your grant agreement. You can find more information on eligibility in the CRC Program Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

The Journalism Assistance Fund Program, running over 3 years from 2025-26, was announced as part of the News Media Assistance Program (News MAP). News MAP aims to support public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia - recognising these are critical to a healthy democracy, social cohesion and informed citizens.

Organisations producing core news content will be eligible for funding. The funding will provide a proportion of the wages for journalists producing core news content that is distributed digitally. 

The program aims to:

• support the sustainability of Australian news publishers in the face of significant disruption to the media sector
• support the creation of digitally distributed news content,
• encourage continued employment of journalists who primarily produce news that is in the Australian public interest
• build and maintain social cohesion in Australia

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• are registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• have an account with an Australian financial institution
• are an entity that produces and publishes core news content that is distributed digitally

and be one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia
• a company 
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• an incorporated association
• a co-operative
• a partnership
• an incorporated not for profit organisation or registered charity
• a sole trader. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music makers nationwide are encouraged to apply for the 2026 LIFECYCLE Grants.

The three grant streams are for marketing, recording and touring, and are open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music creators including songwriters, composers and musicians, from now until Sunday 3 May. 

The marketing stream offers 15 grants of $10,000 each available to support content creation, marketing and promotional activities. 
 
The recording stream is 10 grants of $20,000 each to support the creation and recording of new and original music, as well as facilitate access to professional recording environments, and business and skills development opportunities. 
 
The touring stream also offers 10 grants of $20,000 each to support and facilitate access for artists to tour a new project, to support audience engagement and build new audiences through a series of live performances. 

Music creators can apply for multiple grants and eligibility is not restricted to APRA AMCOS members.

The SEAMRPS Grant Program will facilitate trade in professional services between Australia and Southeast Asia by supporting Australian professional service accreditation, licensing and registration bodies to negotiate mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) with their Southeast Asian counterparts. MRAs make it easier for professionals to practice overseas by recognising equivalent qualifications and licensing standards between jurisdictions.

The SEAMRPS Grant Program will run over two financial years from 2024-25 to 2025-26, terminating 30 June 2026. The first grant round has been completed. A second grant round is being launched, as available funding was not fully exhausted in the initial round.

Objective and intended Outcome

Objective - the key objective of the program is to liberalise and facilitate the professional services trade between Australia and Southeast Asia and contribute to closer economic integration.

Intended outcome - the intended outcome of the program is to enable Australian professional service accreditation, licensing and registration bodies to negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications, licensing and registration with their Southeast Asian counterparts.

The Carbon Capture Technologies Program aims to accelerate the research, development and demonstration of novel and emerging carbon management technologies to address Australia’s hard-to-abate emissions and residual emissions. Grants will be offered to pilot and demonstration projects that capture, utilise and remove CO2 and have the potential to create new, low-emissions or net-zero industries.

Examples of eligible technologies, include but are not limited to:

• novel or emerging carbon capture and/or utilisation for hard-to-abate sectors
• novel or emerging carbon removal technologies such as
• direct air capture
• enhanced rock weathering
• biomass carbon removal and storage, including durable sequestration of carbon in biochar
• mineral carbonation technology, such as capturing carbon in building and other materials.

Conventional and land-based approaches that leverage natural biological systems, without technological intervention, are not eligible. This includes:

• afforestation/reforestation,
• peatland or wetland restoration
• agroforestry are excluded from this program.

The objectives of the program are to:

• accelerate the development of emerging priority CO2 capture, utilisation, and removal technologies
• support research, development and demonstration to advance technological and commercial readiness of novel or emerging carbon capture, utilisation and removal technologies in hard-to-abate industries such as cement, chemicals and steel
• demonstrate verifiable permanence of CO2 sequestered via a range of utilisation applications
• support capability development in novel or emerging carbon removal technologies.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• are registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)

and are one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust where your trading activities:
  • form a sufficiently significant proportion of the corporation’s overall activities as to merit it being described as a trading corporation; or
  • are a substantial and not merely peripheral activity of the corporation
• an Australian state/territory Government agency or body
• a corporate Commonwealth entity.

Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) Grants provide funding to support short-term (up to 3 years), industry-led research collaborations.

Projects must:

• develop a product, service or process that will solve problems for industry and deliver real outcomes
• benefit small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

You can use the funding to cover costs directly related to your project including:

• new research
• proof of concept activities
• pre-commercialisation of research outcomes
• industry-focused education and training activities
• conferences, workshops, symposia related to the joint research
• information sharing and communications related to the research.

This is not a complete list and other costs may also be eligible.

There is no specific amount of funding allocated to each CRC-P round. The number of CRC Projects funded in each selection round depends on the applications received and available Program funding.

Applicants must at least match the amount of grant funding sought through cash and/or in-kind contributions.

To be eligible as a lead applicant you must:

• be an SME
• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• be registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• be incorporated in Australia and a trading corporation.

Your trading activities must be either:

• enough to be called a trading corporation
• a major, not minor, part of your overall activity.

Project partners must include:

• a lead applicant which is an Australian industry entity SME
• a second Australian industry organisation of any size
• 1 Australian research organisation.

The lead SME organisation must submit the application form.

The Strategic Opportunities Program supports innovative projects designed to strengthen the NSW screen and digital games industries.

The objectives of the program are to fund projects that:

• Build capacity within the NSW screen and digital games industries
• Support the growth and capability of NSW screen and digital games practitioners, organisations and businesses
• Are aligned with one or more strategic priorities in the NSW Screen & Digital Games Strategy (2025-2027):
  • Priority 1 – Creating Stories
  • Priority 2 – Building Sustainable Growth
  • Priority 3 – Improving Capacity and Capability
  • Priority 4 – Developing Audiences to Increase Demand
• Increase industry participation for audiences and/or screen and digital games practitioners from one or more NSW Government key priority areas:
  • Regional NSW
  • Western Sydney
  • First Nations people
  • People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • People living with disability
  • LGBTQIA+ people.

To be eligible for funding under the Strategic Opportunities Program, applicants must:

• Discuss their proposed project with Screen NSW staff before submitting an application
• Be an Australian organisation, including:
• Companies and not-for-profit incorporated bodies
• Co-operatives, trusts or local government authorities
• A consortium or a group of organisations working collaboratively*
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be legally constituted and able to provide proof of legal status
• Adhere to general eligibility requirements under the Screen NSW Terms of Trade.

*In the case of a consortium or group of organisations working collaboratively, one eligible organisation must be nominated as the lead organisation. If successful, the funding grant agreement will be between Screen NSW and the lead organisation.

Kick-start funding offers businesses financial incentives from a $5 million allocation to help purchase up to 15 electric vehicles (EVs) and smart charging ports. 

Kick-start funding is suitable for businesses that are interested in trialling a few EVs or for smaller fleets. It is open to any ABN holder that operates an existing fleet in NSW, provided the business meets one of the following requirements: 

• operates an existing fleet of at least 3 vehicles (electric or non-electric) in NSW
• Has licensed taxi drivers with at least 1 taxi in NSW
• Is an individual truck operator, with at least 1 truck in NSW. 

The purpose of the Building Fund Small-Scale grant opportunity is to provide capital grants to build new or expand existing services in areas of need. The grant opportunity will enable successful providers to expand service delivery in areas where there is undersupply of ECEC. It will also target investment to improve early childhood development outcomes and socio-economic factors.

Under this opportunity, funding is available for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and National Law approved NFP providers with a track record of delivering high quality ECEC services and demonstrated capability to build National Law and Regulation compliant Centre-Based Day Care (CBDC) services. Funding is also available to NFP organisations, including local councils, to modify buildings to facilitate the provision of in-venue Family Day Care (FDC) by a high quality provider in areas where no ECEC is available.

Funding will be for ECEC capital works only. This includes new buildings or expansions provided it creates new or additional ECEC places in areas of need. Grantees cannot use funding for service delivery. Applicants will be required to outline their business case for managing the ongoing viability of service delivery of these new or expanded services.

Funding under this grant opportunity is not available to facilitate or support the ongoing operational costs of ECEC service delivery. However, grantees may be eligible to apply for operational funding under the Supplementary Operational Support Funding Grant opportunity, open to applications from March 2026 to June 2029, under which operational funding will be available from 2026-27 to 2029-30. Recipients of capital grants will not be guaranteed operational funding.

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to increase:

• the number of NFP CBDC services and ECEC places in areas of undersupply in a timely manner;
• the number and capacity of services delivered by quality, NFP providers in the sector; and
• children’s participation in ECEC in areas of need.

Consistent with commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the grant opportunity also aims to support availability of high quality and culturally safe ECEC for First Nations children, families and communities to ensure children thrive in their early years.

Eligible NSW small businesses who are embedded network (on-supply) customers can apply for a National Energy Bill Relief payment of up to $150 in the 2025-26 financial year via this portal.  

Eligible small businesses who are retail customers will receive their Bill Relief payment automatically via their energy bills.

Your small business may be eligible if all the following apply: 

• has not already received the National Energy Bill Relief payment for the small business's energy account in the 2025-2026 financial year
• is in an embedded electricity network in NSW
• has an electricity account in the name of the business with at least 90 days of metered electricity usage
• uses less than 100 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year across all sites in NSW
• has an active ABN.

If you operate your small business from your home or your small business is on a residential electricity plan, you are not eligible. Other exclusions may apply, for example post offices, government owned agencies, gas and water retailers, and telecommunications companies are also not eligible. Please read the Terms and Conditions for further information on eligibility.

The Paid Practicum grant provides a wage subsidy to give ECEC Employees paid leave while they are undertaking their paid practicum.

Eligibility

Only ECEC services currently approved for and receiving the Childcare Subsidy (CCS) under Family Assistance Law, including long day care, family day care, in-home care, centre-based day care and outside school hours care services, are eligible and can apply for their employees.

To be eligible for a grant the employee must be:

• an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia or hold a valid work visa (including student visa) allowing employment in the ECEC sector; and
• a contact worker - an educator who is part of the adult to child ratio at a Service or who provides direct early childhood education and care, or supervision for children in other care types, such as IHC or FDC; or
  a non-contact worker – a director or educational leader who provides direct support, early childhood education and care, or supervision for children; and
• a full-time, part-time, or casual employee who has worked more than 40 hours overall in the preceding three months with that Service.

The Professional Development – National Child Safety Training grant provides support to ECEC educators, early childhood teachers and directors with five hours of time to complete the national child safety training.

Eligibility

Only ECEC services currently approved for and receiving the Childcare Subsidy (CCS) under Family Assistance Law, including long day care, family day care, in-home care, centre-based day care and outside school hours care services, are eligible and can apply for their employees.

To be eligible for a grant the employee must be:

1. an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia or hold a valid work visa (including student visa) allowing employment in the ECEC sector; and
2. a contact worker - an educator who is part of the educator-to-child ratio at a Service or who provides direct early childhood education and care, or supervision for children in other care types, such as IHC or FDC; or
   a non-contact worker – a director or educational leader who provides direct support, early childhood education and care, or supervision for children; and
3. a full-time, part-time, or casual employee who has worked more than 40 hours overall in the preceding three months with that Service

The purpose of this grant is to provide Australian Government funding to support a wage increase for all eligible ECEC workers from December 2024.

Eligible ECEC workers include:

• workers covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 and working in a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved Centre-Based Day Care (CBDC) or Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) service;
• workers covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 and working in a CCS approved CBDC or OSHC service; and
• workers who are undertaking duties covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 or Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 and working in a CCS approved CBDC or OSHC service but are not covered by these awards (including workers covered by a state industrial instrument, or working in a setting covered by a different award), and these duties constitute the majority of that workers role. 

Trainees who are undertaking a registered traineeship and whose pay and conditions are not covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020 are not included as eligible ECEC workers. 

To be eligible you must be a legal entity that provides CBDC or OSHC services (a Provider). One Provider may apply in relation to one or multiple service locations (Services) that the Provider owns and operates.

The objective of the Program is to incentivise voluntary uptake of ADS-B equipment in Australian-registered aircraft operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) to improve safety and efficiency for Australian airspace users.

The program will provide:

• better situational awareness for pilots through improved electronic visibility of nearby airborne VFR and IFR aircraft
• enhanced search and rescue capabilities through improved air traffic information
• air traffic controllers with additional and accurate automated aircraft position information of VFR aircraft.

The Program funds two classes of eligible ADS-B equipment:

• installed ADS-B equipment that air traffic controllers can use for aircraft separation purposes (referred to as ADS-B)
• portable ADS-B equipment for local electronic traffic information purposes (referred to as ADS-B EC).

To apply you must:

• be the registered owner of a crewed aircraft operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) or Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and shown in an approved registration database including:
• the CASA Australian aircraft register for VH aircraft (e.g. fixed wing, helicopter, balloon, glider) registration database managed by CASA
• an approved Australian Sport Aviation organisation:
  • Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus)
  • Australian Sport Rotorcraft Association (ASRA)
  • Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA).
• purchase and/or install in your registered aircraft:
  • a device which provides ADS-B-OUT functionality or an ADS-B EC device but not both, after 20 December 2021, or
  • a device which provides ADS-B-IN functionality or a device which provides ADS-B-IN and OUT functionality, after 31 May 2024.

If a grant was paid in respect of your aircraft under ADS-B Round 1 you are eligible to apply under the following conditions:

• the equipment adds ADS-B IN functionality that was not previously available, or
• you are upgrading from an EC device to installed equipment.

The Rebates Program aims to support targets identified in the NSW Waste and Materials Strategy 2041 (WaSM), including:

• reducing total waste generated by 10% per person by 2030
• achieving an 80% average recovery rate from all waste streams by 2030
• tripling the plastics recycling rate by 2030
• phasing out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025
• halving the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030
• significantly increasing the use of recycled content by governments and industry.

The objectives of the Rebates Program are to:

• avoid or divert new tonnes of waste generated by businesses from landfill
• help businesses transition to a circular economy by targeting actions higher on the waste hierarchy (e.g. avoiding or re-using waste above recycling, and upcycling above downcycling)
• support the transition away from problematic, unnecessary and single-use plastics, and
• reduce organic waste going to landfill and support the introduction of mandatory food-waste collections from targeted businesses, commencing from 2025.

Businesses applying for the Rebates Program must:

• currently have a commercial and industrial (C&I) waste service at a site in NSW
• currently have a valid ABN and employ one or more full time employees in NSW, and
• currently send C&I waste to landfill in NSW or process/recycle C&I waste generated by businesses.

Businesses can include entities that are registered charities, not-for-profits, public entities (including schools and hospitals), and government organisations. 

The objective of the grant opportunity is to provide co-funding for dealerships and repairers to install EV chargers.

The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are to:

• increase in the number of EV charging stations throughout the country including remote and regional areas
• increase the number of EVs on the roads.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• have an account with an Australian financial institution
• are an entity, incorporated in Australia.

You must also be one of the following:

• a licenced motor dealer/trader
• a service centre associated with a licenced motor dealer/trader
• an automotive repair business, compliant with Australian Standards 5732:202 2 (EV operations – maintenance and repair) and which has at least one current member of staff suitable qualified to undertake work on EVs.

To be eligible for a rebate, you must have purchased and installed at least one eligible smart EV charger(s) at an eligible site (listed in section 4.2 of the grant opportunity Guidelines) on or after 26 March 2024.

Eligible smart EV chargers include:

• AC plugs with 7 kW charging speed (single phase)
• AC plugs with 11-22 kW charging speed
• DC plugs with 50 kW or less charging speed.

You can only apply for concessional this loan if your small business is currently or has been supplying goods or services relating to primary production to farm businesses in an affected area. This loan is not available to farm businesses.

The loan is for ten years and has no fees, 2 years interest free, 3 years interest only and 5 years principal and interest.

It may be used for:

• refinance your debt
• pay suppliers
• pay for operating expenses
• pay salaries, wages and rent

The Impact Investment Ready Growth Grant provides impact businesses and mission-driven organisations with grants of up to $140,000 for business, financial, legal and other capacity building support from providers to secure investment.

Growth Grants were created in recognition of the potential for impact investing to change the way Australia addresses social issues and the important role that access to capital can play in delivering better outcomes for people and communities. They support enterprises that are high growth, can deliver positive social outcomes and have the potential to secure capital investment.