Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a privilege to follow the member for Cowan, because it's always the opportunity to hear directly of the talking points from the Labor Party and their latest grievance. But, of course, as we know with this motion that's being moved that it's all talk and no actual substance from the opposition in comparison to the practical action this government is delivering.

I agree with the spirit. We do talk about commercialisation a lot and we do talk about innovation a lot, because the focus of this government is how do we build the Australian economy of the future. When it comes to not just innovation but making sure that innovation is utilised in a practical way to deliver outcomes for people, you do need things like development and you do need things like commercialisation to take it through the full life cycle to make sure that we create products and innovations and services that improve the lives of not just of Australians but people all around the world. That's something we should be proud of, because—I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back to basic economics—when you create goods and services that are innovative and in demand that improve people's lives, you actually improve people's economic, social and human welfare, So we're are very proud of that.

That is the focus of this government: How do we do it to make people's lives better? How do we make sure the future is going to be awesome? There are practical measures we take at every step, including in this budget where there is significant investment in scientific research and development. In fact, there was $475 million to drive industry growth and scientific development. But the practical reality is that we as a government don't focus solely on what the government can do to drive innovation, because, politely, Deputy Speaker, as you may know I'm not a particularly big believer that government is the answer to all of our societal or economic woes but actually it's how do we mobilise private capital to invest in the future of building and the sustainable development of this country and develop research and development. We have a very proud record in that space. That's why we focus so much on what it is we need to do to drive innovation and mobilise private capital to be able to invest in new products and new innovations. That was what the focus of the patent box announced in this budget did. It's a trial mechanism, which the member for Cowan has outlined, limited to what we need to do in the medical research space. But, let's face it: what it could do is provide an innovative regulatory framework and tax framework which might then be able to be replicated elsewhere. Do you know why, Deputy Speaker? It's because we're cutting taxes for those companies. If we cut taxes for companies, you get more innovation, more capital, more commercialisation and more outcomes.

We know the members of the opposition oppose tax cuts to drive growth, whereas this government is very proud of the fact that, if you want to have patents based in Australia, if you want innovation and research in Australia, we'll cut your taxes so we can grow jobs, so we can employ scientists, so we can employ people who develop products and commercialise them to get to them to the market. That's because a simple understanding of the life cycle of what drives economic behaviour and job creation is at the heart of the government's budget to deliver improvement.

So we're immensely proud of out patent box. We talk about it all the time. We're so proud of our patent box and we hope, and I as the member for Goldstein certainly hope, that we can cut more taxes for more businesses into the future, and I make no apologies for that. It's good to finally hear the member for Cowan arguing for massive tax cuts for companies that want to invest in the future of this country, because the basis of her complaint is that it the patent box isn't broad enough. Well, I kind of agree with that. I'd like to see it go bigger and broader to create an environment that fosters jobs and growth.

Of course, there is also huge support for other agencies within the government, like the CSIRO and cooperative research centres, with R&D tax incentives across the board because we know that innovation does not come from monopoly government. We know it doesn't come from one institution harbouring all the wealth and knowledge of the country to drive innovation. We understand that it's through a decentralised model, to make sure that we have a thousand different innovative projects because some will succeed and some will fail, and the more you create and foster an environment for growth the more likely you are to have an innovative future Australia.

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