{"id":"F2020L01467","name":"Industry Research and Development (Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program) Instrument 2020","slug":"industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":440672,"registerId":"F2020L01467-fast-fetch-1775956227693","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Industry Research and Development (Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program) Instrument 2020","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nIndustry Research and Development (Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program) Instrument 2020\n\nI, Karen Andrews, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, make the following instrument.\n\nDated 18 November 2020\n\nKaren Andrews\n\nMinister for Industry, Science and Technology\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\n5 Prescribed program\n\n6 Specified legislative power\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Industry Research and Development (Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program) Instrument 2020.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered. 25 November 2020\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 33 of the Industry Research and Development Act 1986.\n\n4  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Industry Research and Development Act 1986.\n\nConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women means the Convention of that name done at New York on 18 December 1979.\n\nNote: The Convention is in Australian Treaty Series 1983 No. 9 ([1983] ATS 9) and could in 2020 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).\n\nfemale founded startup means a business that:\n\n (a) is an early stage, innovative or disruptive business; and\n\n (b) has the capacity to grow quickly and the potential to address large national and international markets; and\n\n (c) is working on a novel product or service, or has an innovative business model; and\n\n (d) is at least 50% owned by women, and of which at least 50% of the founding team or senior managers are women.\n\nprogram: see subsection 5(1).\n\n5  Prescribed program\n\n (1) For the purposes of subsection 33(1) of the Act, the Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program (the program) is prescribed.\n\n (2) The program provides funding:\n\n (a) to female founded startups to engage in Australian or export markets; and\n\n (b) for the provision of expert advice to, and expert mentoring of, entrepreneurs who are women.\n\n (3) The purpose of the program is to reduce discrimination against, and promote equal opportunity for, women in innovative entrepreneurship.\n\n6  Specified legislative power\n\n  For the purposes of subsection 33(3) of the Act, the powers of the Parliament to make laws with respect to the following are specified:\n\n (a) trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States (within the meaning of paragraph 51(i) of the Constitution);\n\n (b) external affairs (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxix) of the Constitution), as it relates to measures to give effect to Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, particularly Articles 2, 3 and 11.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose of establishing the Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program. It does not expand beyond prescribing the program, defining eligibility, and specifying constitutional heads of power. The scope matches the instrument's title and intent."},"complexity_factors":["Only 6 short sections total","Minimal defined terms (only 4 definitions in section 4)","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the parent Act and Constitution","Simple conditional structure with no nested exceptions","Straightforward purpose and eligibility criteria","Single program prescription with clear funding purposes"],"plain_english_summary":"The Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program funds and mentors women-led, early-stage innovative startups to scale in Australia and overseas. Eligible ventures are majority women-owned and women-led with high growth potential and novel offerings. The program aims to reduce discrimination and expand opportunity for women entrepreneurs, reflecting Australia’s obligations under CEDAW. It is established by the Minister under the Industry Research and Development Act 1986, supported by trade and external-affairs powers."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument, as made, prescribes and defines the Boosting Female Founders Initiative and specifies the constitutional bases for it; it does not amend or expand the parent Act. The instrument sets program purpose and eligibility definitions but leaves operational implementation and funding decisions to the Act and its administrators (see s5 and s3)."},"complexity_factors":["Statutory authorisation reliance: instrument is made under s33 of the Industry Research and Development Act 1986 (see s3) — requires reading with the Act to understand operational mechanics.","Eligibility thresholds embedded in the definition of “female founded startup” (ownership ≥50% and ≥50% of founding team/senior managers are women) create binary eligibility lines that may produce edge-case disputes.","Program scope is described broadly (funding and expert mentoring, s5(2)) but operational details (funding amounts, selection criteria, administration) are unspecified here, leaving significant executive discretion to the administering body.","Constitutional specification (s6) invokes both trade and commerce (s51(i)) and external affairs (s51(xxix)) tied to CEDAW Articles 2, 3 and 11, introducing interstate and treaty-law dimensions to legal justification.","Purpose clause is normative (“reduce discrimination... promote equal opportunity”, s5(3)) which may affect judicial interpretation of eligibility and permissible program activities.","Commencement mechanism is formal (instrument commences the day after registration) but notes non-substantive table content may be edited in published versions, which can cause minor interpretive uncertainty."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument establishes the Boosting Female Founders Initiative, a Commonwealth-funded program that provides support and expert mentoring to startups meeting its female‑founder criteria and declares legal authority under the Industry Research and Development Act. It targets early-stage, high-growth businesses at least 50% owned by women and aims to reduce discrimination and promote equal opportunity (s5). The instrument also specifies constitutional bases for the program (trade and external affairs) while leaving operational funding and eligibility administration to the enabling Act and its delegates."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020","history":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020/history","analysis":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-boosting-female-founders-initiative-program-instrument-2020/documents"}}