Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on the motion by the member for Fairfax recognising the importance of innovation but, more importantly, the ecosystem that this government has put around supporting business right across our economy. Australia's broad based R&D tax incentive seeks to encourage industries to undertake research and development in Australia. We have a tremendous track record in this country of research, development and innovation. There are any number of inventions over the past 100 years that we could point to, such as the black box flight recorder, various vaccines and a whole range of things. We know our country does very, very well in solving problems.

One of the problems we have had traditionally, though, is commercialising many of those things. But, importantly, the ecosystem is there in the first instance, through supports such as the R&D tax incentive, to support businesses to research and innovate. In 2021, it's estimated, some $2.6 billion of support will be provided through that. This comes on the back of the government's $2 billion investment in R&D in the 2021 budget to enhance the R&D tax incentive and another $1.2 billion which we've invested through the Digital Economy Strategy, which seeks to build digital skills and capabilities, encourage business investment and transform government services.

But I'd like to take this opportunity to recognise and congratulate some of those businesses in my electorate of Forde who are doing tremendous work in developing new ideas and bringing them to market. It is these businesses who drive our economy and who will be a key part of securing our economic recovery as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. I had the fortune recently to visit a number of these businesses and see firsthand what innovation and product development look like. The first business was Lithium Battery Systems at Loganholme, who have benefited from the R&D tax incentives over many years. I had the honour of opening their new factory. They have done research into the development of battery management systems for lithium batteries, known as BMS, and a unique design developing an aluminium enclosure or a heat sink. Fifty-five per cent of the aluminium procured is from recycled sources and is sourced from within Australia. Using that recycled material provides flow-on benefits to the economy. The incentive has encouraged them to continue to develop their ideas, build their business and take on new market opportunities.

I was also fortunate recently to visit Frosty Boy in my electorate. Their slogan for their ice creams is: 'Often licked, never beaten!' and they've demonstrated that through COVID-19. They rose to the challenge. When they saw their market disappear, as people stopped eating soft-serve ice creams because they couldn't visit their local shops, they went on and developed their new slow-melt ice creams and an enriched protein-shake product range. The beauty of the slow-melt ice creams is that you can order them through home delivery businesses like Uber Eats and they can be delivered to your home without melting all over the place. Frosty Boy also have a strong export market for their products, which now accounts for 75 per cent of their business as they export to over 65 countries.

In addition to this, all of these businesses that I've spoken about have seen the benefit of a range of other supports that this government has provided, such as JobKeeper or the extended instant asset write-off, all of which, in conjunction with the R&D tax incentive, go to support business to continue to grow and prosper. Whether it's Frosty Boy, or Lithium Battery Systems, or Holmwood Highgate and their new defence product range and their constant innovation with their range of road fuel tankers and liquid tankers, we continue to see, right across my electorate of Forde, the use of the R&D tax incentive by many, many businesses to grow their business, take opportunities and continue to build our economy.

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