Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Trade Marks Amendment Bill 2006 and offer Labor’s support for these measures. The bill amends the Trade Marks Act 1995 to strengthen trademark rights and provide greater certainty to trademark owners and the general public. It also includes provisions that reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on the users of the system. The bill also increases the transparency of the trademark system and increases the alignment of the trademark system with other intellectual property rights.

The major provisions of the bill will enable owners of trademarks with a reputation in Australia to more readily protect their trademarks against registration of other trademarks whose use is likely to lead to confusion in the market place. It will also clarify the basis on which a trademark may be opposed and allow a trademark to be opposed if it was made in bad faith. It also makes it easier for trademark owners to request Customs to seize goods that might infringe their trademark, and notices requesting seizure will stay in effect for longer. Trademark owners will be able to provide a written undertaking to repay any expenses incurred by the Commonwealth instead of paying cash security upfront as is currently required. The bill will also clarify parts of the act that have previously confused trademark owners, making it easier for people to apply for a trademark.

The amendments contained in the bill are sensible though overdue improvements to Australia’s trademark regime that enhance efficiency, improve transparency and reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on trademark applicants and owners. That is why Labor supports these measures and welcomes them.

The second reading debate on this bill also gives me an opportunity to outline some of Labor’s proposals in this area which I think are very significant. I am referring specifically of course to Labor’s innovation blueprint. Labor’s innovation blueprint is a plan to turn Aussie brilliance into Aussie dollars to make our economy competitive with the rest of the world once again.

Innovation is central to the nation-building agenda and will deliver for this country. A federal Labor government will kick-start the next generation of innovation in the private sector. Reform is urgently needed in areas such as research and development investment arrangements. We need to look more closely at developing the capacity and diversity of our universities, not just trying to seize control, which the current government is doing. We also need to rebuild Australia’s great research institutes, including the CSIRO. These are the innovative drivers—the forces and the levers—that government has available to it to ensure that we drive innovation and that we provide the tools necessary for Australians to move forward in this area.

There is a lot of brilliance in Australia but young people and start-up companies are often not assisted by government or regulation in providing the necessary push to achieve their dreams and their goals. This government has failed abysmally, particularly in the area of R&D, to provide the right mechanisms and tools. More thought needs to be put into research and development and how those investment arrangements are made. Certainly the government needs to form greater partnerships with our universities to develop innovation, technology and new systems—from ideas through to in-country development—and to turn them into Australian dollars and Australian jobs, which would enable our skilled people to achieve much more.

The key initiatives that a Beazley Labor government would put into place on coming to office would include enterprise connect centres, which could be used as the conduit between the marketplace and universities and innovators out there on the street doing their work. Knowledge transfer partnerships are a better mechanism for taking initiatives from a knowledge based start through to creating systems. Venture capital reforms in this country have had very little attention. Venture capital in most countries is a key driver of innovation that develops those new ideas into products in the market. That is something that Australia could do much better.

Health research is another area. Australia has a great reputation in the area of medical and health research and that needs to be focused on more heavily. More needs to be done in the area of modern information and communications technology. We need to rebuild our national icons, for example the CSIRO, and make sure they are independent and that they have the funding available to them to do the things they are chartered to do. Labor will commission the Chifley Research Centre to report on the future of R&D incentives—in particular, the greater incentives for increased and additional R&D investment rather than just the overall levels. Labor will look at better targeting the money to be spent. We will look at converting the benefits of different rates into a single concession for new investment. We will look at expanding the base of the current concession on increased and additional investment and converting the R&D concession into a program of loans and grants. Labor will provide more mechanisms and tools and a greater focus in the area of research and development, which this government has not done.

In respect of innovation centres, we need to adapt new ideas in research. We need to take up new technology. We need to test new products, new ideas and new processes. But all of this does take time, and it costs money. There needs to be that partnership between government, people and institutions to see this through to the market. Labor’s commitment is to initially establish up to 10 enterprise connect centres, including one for advanced manufacturing. This is a very important issue that this government has not looked at. Labor will contribute up to $20 million to each centre over four years—a solid, worthwhile commitment.

We also need to find a new collaboration of at least one business and a university, a public research agency or a TAFE, to work on specific projects such as improving production and management processes or building and testing new prototypes or a new product launch. Labor commits to providing $10 million in each full year to fund up to 200 knowledge transfer partnerships for projects of up to two years. This is needed urgently in this new-age economy where there is a skills crisis. The jobs of tomorrow will be built around innovation and skilling people, and there needs to be a partnership between all of the institutions involved and government.

Lastly, I will make a couple of comments on venture capital. Labor intends to consult on the establishment of an enterprise investment scheme similar to that adopted in the United Kingdom which provides tax incentives for investors who subscribe to innovative companies and on the establishment of a new venture capital exchange to help foster a risk capital market for emerging companies. I commend this bill and Labor supports it. It contains a number of measures that are worth while, that strengthen the trademark rights of individuals and companies. It is well and truly overdue.

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