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

The government has been in power for almost 11 years and, in anyone’s language, that is a long time. It is a long time for any government to be in power. It is enough time for a government to implement its policy; it is enough time for those policies to be well known to the community. Of course, the expectation from everybody in the community is that after 10, nearly 11, years there should no longer be any excuses from government either in program delivery or for any associated failures with its own program schedule. Unfortunately, that is exactly what we get from the Howard government: a string of associated failures and things yet to be done, things left on the table, policy undone and a range of policy failures.

What is most disturbing about that record, after almost 11 years in power, is that rather than getting on with the job, getting serious about trying to make amends and actually dealing with some of the serious policy failures, all we get are excuses. It is always somebody else’s fault. They blame everybody; in particular, they blame the states. The states are an easy target for this government. In fact, if you listen to this government, on the one hand they are the masters of everything in Australia, they want to take over every program and be responsible for everything, and on the other hand they want no responsibility and want to blame the states for everything that does not go right.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the coalition are becoming tired and complacent. They are running out of innovative ideas and enthusiasm and they have certainly run out of accountability, which once upon a time they prided themselves on. Being in power for over a decade now and regularly deflecting any forward planning on the big issues that would ultimately drive and sustain our economy well into the future, it is starting to shape up as though the government have been out to a very long lunch. While you would expect that they would come back a little boozy, they have not come back as yet and it might be some time before they are back in the room.

This is at a time when we have strong economic fortune. In fact, it is at a record high for most people—the economy is doing well in most parts, better in some than in others. People could be forgiven for thinking that Australia could surf the same wave of economic fortune that we have experienced for the last 16 consecutive years. They could be excused for thinking that those 16 years may continue on to a further 16 years, but it is not that simple. What has delivered us those 16 years of year-on-year economic growth took some hard decisions and hard work, but not by this government—they have only been in charge for nearly 11 years—it started well before this government.

I will talk a little bit about that in a moment. The point I want to make is quite simple: if the government in power today does not take some hard decisions then we are not going to have another 16 years of economic growth. We are pretty lucky; Australia is enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime resources boom. It is delivering to government untold riches and surpluses that even this freely spending government finds difficult to blow all in one go. It should not be of any surprise though that, under the current circumstances, these huge surpluses are bettered every year by even larger than expected windfalls from the resources boom in my home state of Queensland and, of course, from our good friends in Western Australia as well—two states that are delivering masses of revenue to the government. Coupled with a free-flowing tax river of gold derived from the GST, the federal government has never been better placed to leave a lasting legacy for future generations, most importantly for the young people of today. I do not want to leave out the working men and women of today as well, who could do with a little boost in skills, training and a bit of reform in some of those areas that could deliver some real productivity growth and some real benefits, not only to them but to this country and our economy. Unfortunately, these things I speak about that we should be doing are not happening. They are not happening because the government has taken its eye off the ball, and has done so for many years. The Australian government is wasting this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seriously invest in human capital and much needed infrastructure in the pursuit of salvaging something from the policy wreck that is the Iraq war and the attack on working families’ rights.

The harsh reality is that the resources boom like all booms will eventually subside. I am not making predictions as to when that will be, but all booms come, go and will probably come back again in another cycle. But we need to start to look at this boom and what it delivers to the economy from a different angle. We need to start again looking at the issues of productivity, skills, education, training and, of course, innovation. Innovation is that central topic that I want to try to direct my comments at today.

When we ask whether the government have started planning and started work on innovation, I think most people would say no. Have they started looking at the alternatives that would keep this country internationally competitive in the future? I would say the answer to that again is no. If the answer is a maybe, they are not doing enough and they are certainly not doing it well enough. It seems that the government have been way too preoccupied with other issues, which seem to be more important to them than the future prosperity of this country—issues I have mentioned such as the war in Iraq, the industrial relations debate and more and more ever-growing regulation for small business. It is no secret that many people from a wide variety of sectors, including the Labor Party, have been calling for real change for many years—change in the way we invest in education, in the way we invest in skills and training, in the way we invest in R&D and in the way that we deal with the future drivers of our economy such as innovation.

Australia needs a new wave of reform much like that which the Hawke and Keating Labor government started 20 years ago when we made those very important sweeping economic reforms and changes, such as floating the dollar—those tough decisions that have delivered today what we enjoy in the economy. These are the sorts of reforms that have delivered much, if not all, of the economic prosperity that we enjoy today. One thing I am certain of is that it can happen again if a government were to get serious about what it is that actually drives the economy. Labor firmly believe in a strong economy, but at the same time we also believe that you do not have to throw out the fair go to achieve it.

The leader of the federal Labor Party, Kevin Rudd, recently made two speeches that succinctly tied together some salient ideas and necessary directions for a successful Australian economy in the 21st century. Amongst these is the need for Australia to renew its commitment to investing in our human capital—commitments to education, skills and training. If recent economic history, both globally and domestically, have taught us anything, it is that the world’s strongest, most dynamic economies are those that do not piggyback on periodic resources booms but rather invest the windfall in their own people to create comparative advantage and future prosperity.

The stark reality is in the data on the sorts of matters I am talking about. If you look at where Australia sits in the OECD, we do not look very good. We are the only country that, in net terms, is going backwards with spending and education. So, while other countries have understood the need to invest in education, science and research, and the need to provide the economic and fiscal tools businesses need to help them promote innovation and productivity growth and change, Australia in real terms has been going backwards. It simply does not make sense.

The quality of Australia’s investment in human capital is directly and intimately related to the subject I wish to elaborate on today—that is, innovation in the Australian economy. Quite literally the quality of innovation taking place in our economy will determine whether or not Australia succeeds or fails in the future as a smart, productive and competitive member of the global economy. You will hear a lot of talk in this place, in workplaces and at kitchen tables around the country from people genuinely concerned about the free trade agreements with China and the United States, the growing level of imports into this country, the receding exports we have from this country and the failures in some of our manufacturing sectors—though not all—and where this leaves us in terms of a global competitive advantage. It is one thing to have a great economy based on a range of factors but another to be principally based on a resources boom, basically digging up minerals and selling them. It does not do a lot for our future. A smart country would take that natural advantage and build on it through education and innovation.

Innovation consists of that dynamic part, the driving core, of a market economy such as ours. Innovation will determine the types of industries and the quality of life we hope to enjoy in the future—the quality of life we want for our kids to grow up with. We can innovate. In fact Australia has a great history of innovation.

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