Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

A myth often told about Australia is that our wealth and success was built on the sheep's back. But we all know that while we may literally be the lucky country our fortune has derived not from luck but from hard work and innovation. There are some who have for far too long felt it necessary to diminish the success we have achieved as a nation as being nothing more than dumb luck. From our very first days our community's wealth and very survival was built on inventiveness. In many ways, we had no other choice. If necessity is the mother of all invention, then our continent over and over again has given us plenty of incentive to be inventive. Australians can take credit for the invention of penicillin, the black box flight recorder, spray-on skin and the pacemaker. In fact, one of my constituents, Dr David Green, is one of the pioneers of the pacemaker and lives in Mackellar.

Many people do not realise that Google Maps was developed by two Australians, that polymer bank notes were first invented here or that Australians invented the cochlear implant, the electric drill, the winged keel, wi-fi, ultrasound, plastic lenses, inflatable escape slides, cervical cancer vaccines, permaculture and, most importantly, RaceCam. Each of these inventions is significant. Together they represent a body of work that puts us amongst the top tier of nations when it comes to innovation. They have each contributed to making Australia one of the wealthiest and privileged countries in the world. The questions we face today are: if we are to continue to be a modern and dynamic nation with high-income jobs and generous social services, how can we accelerate, leverage and encourage scientific endeavour? How can we build upon our history and further develop our modern and dynamic character?

I believe that the role of prizes in the encouragement and development of scientific endeavour has been underestimated in Australia. In the past, prizes were used to encourage and focus intellectual effort on specific problems. Initially the scientist would present his discovery to a wealthy benefactor, who would return the gesture with a gift of their own. The most famous of these was Galileo's gift of the discovery of the moons of Jupiter to Medici. Medici noted—sardonically—that it was a gift 'out of this world'.

Globally, prizes for innovation of over $100,000 have tripled in the last decade, to $375 million. Since 2000 there have been 60 new prizes worth over $250 million. The most famous contemporary example of a prize being used to accelerate scientific investigation is the X project, based in California. The project's mission is 'to bring radical breakthrough for the benefit of humanity.' Its most noteworthy prize has been the Ansari X Prize for the first group that could design a vehicle that could enter space twice within 10 days. This prize resulted in over $100 million being invested in the development of such vehicles, the most famous of which has become Virgin Galactic, which has spawned a nascent space tourism industry.

Franklin Roosevelt, at the nadir of the Great Depression, expressed his governing philosophy as simply 'bold, persistent experimentation'. This government is promoting bold and persistent experimentation in public policy. The latest example is the $96 million Try, Test and Learn Fund announced by Minister Porter. This program will do the most radical of things: it will seek to measure the effectiveness of a social policy initiative. If an initiative is not working then we will stop doing it. But, more importantly, when a measure does work, we can do more of it.

But, as we can see from overseas, most prizes are not driven by government. In my own electorate of Mackellar, our most famous constituent, Dick Smith, is promoting a contest to encourage the development of better electric planes with longer ranges. Dick has proposed a race from London to Darwin for electric planes to replicate the race Billy Hughes created to help bring about the commercial aviation industry in Australia. This contest can promote the development of longer-range electric planes and highlight their commercial applications. Dick is, as usual, willing to put his money where his mouth is and contribute to the prizes to get the contest off the ground. (Time expired)

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