Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the important work being carried out in Australian businesses to research and commercialise new ideas;

(2) acknowledges that the Government has supported those efforts in many ongoing ways, including:

(a) fostering business collaboration with the CSIRO;

(b) the research and development tax incentive; and

(c) Accelerating Commercialisation grants under the Entrepreneurs Programme; and

(3) congratulates Australian companies that are developing and commercialising new ideas, including Naturo Pty Ltd, which has developed a way to extend the shelf life of fresh milk up to 60 days and is creating a pilot manufacturing facility as a result of its recent Accelerating Commercialisation grant.

I think the Australian people are very clear when it comes to this government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic that it has been a pragmatic one, not an ideological one. It has been pragmatic and it has been successful. The Australian people are very accustomed now to hearing the key principles upon which government measures have been based, principles that include the need for measures to be targeted, to be temporary and to be commensurate or proportionate.

What has been less accentuated are some of the ideals that have underpinned the government's response. One such ideal is the importance of the business sector: the importance of private enterprise and the Australian workers who are part of the private system. Such is the strength of the faith that we have in business that the key measures to ensure that the Australian economy and its supply chain are maintained throughout the pandemic have relied principally on the business sector. Of course, people are familiar with the JobKeeper program. It was a program that was not established as some shiny new mechanism creating something completely afresh with new IT systems. It was not a system that sought to ensure that government was at the centre of what was fundamentally a welfare program. Rather, this government adopted a job keeper program that ensured that existing systems, from the tax office through to the payroll systems of individual businesses, were leveraged. We introduced a system that ensured that the relationship between employer and employees remained. This really goes to the ideal of ensuring that businesses are put at the centre. So too does the motion on which we are speaking now recognise the importance of the Australian business community, in particular its work in research and development and the commercialisation of new ideas.

As somebody who spent much of his 20-plus years before politics in business overseas in foreign markets, I can assure members that there is something truly pioneering and entrepreneurial in the Australian DNA. In many cross-cultural workgroups it will often be the Australian who is able to work through problems, working collaboratively with people from different cultures and different markets. There is something fundamental in our DNA as a nation, which is why we as a government need to continue to support businesses with their own research and development to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, and with that enhance the productivity of our nation and also the jobs that come with it.

In this budget we have seen $475 million to drive industry growth and scientific development, in particular focusing on an increase in workforce skills when it comes to cybersecurity; a boost for university scholarships, particularly to assist women enter the research realm around STEM; and a new global science and technology diplomacy fund. We also introduced a patent box with competitive tax rates for commercialisation.

These new measures build on existing schemes and programs through the CSIRO, the R&D Tax Incentive scheme, the Entrepreneurs' Program, the Business Research and Innovation Initiative, and the CRCs—the Cooperative Research Centres. Today I want to emphasise the entrepreneurship program in particular, because it has helped over 20,000 businesses receive customised advice and support, and 531 businesses have received Accelerating Commercialisation Grants. Those grants are critical to ensuring world-class technology continues to be led from Australia. I want acknowledge in particular Naturo, a company based out of my electorate in Coolum, which received a $1 million Accelerating Commercialisation Grant. Naturo are building a pilot manufacturing plant that will allow a world-first patented technology for processing milk that not only is superior from a nutritional point of view but has the capacity for 60-days shelf life. That's innovation, that's Australia and that's what this government supports.

See this speech in context