Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Industry and Science. Will the minister outline to the House how the agreement with China is good for the medical technology sector. How will agreements like this one help innovative Australian businesses both in Adelaide and across Australia to boost their exports, create jobs and grow the economy?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his question. I was just down in Hindmarsh the other day, as I have been pretty regularly over the last two years. Every time I go to Adelaide, I find another business that is innovating and exporting and that is really important with the transition that we see going on in industry in Australia at the moment. There are businesses out there excelling.

In terms of exports, an interesting area that we are growing exports in is medical devices to China. We have seen the increase to be by as much as up to $100 million by 2013-14. That is the first year that China, or any other Asian country for that matter, has been in the top five of export destinations for these medical devices. There is great potential for businesses not only in Adelaide but right across Australia to grow their exports in this area. And that is why it is so important that under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement that there is the removal of four per cent tariffs on hearing aids and implantable medical devices. This presents to businesses in Hindmarsh, in Adelaide and in general a great opportunity to export even more.

One such business which today received a grant, iDataMap corporation, has developed a smartcard called a RadCard for the storage of digital images, which are normally held on X-ray film. It means that more data can be taken by the patient when he goes to see his doctor and a better diagnosis provided. But, just as importantly, this company will employ some 30 to 40 people in South Australia including software and technical engineers. iDataMap is just one of the 24 Australian companies that has received $14.6 million in commercialisation investments today to help push their good ideas into commercialised ideas and, of course, into exports. That comes under that Entrepreneurs' Program, which allocates around $100 million annually. That part of our innovation policy also fits into the growth centre policy and is supplemented by the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceutical Growth Centre. That growth centre is looking specifically at export opportunities, particularly into our northern neighbours including China.

So where is the Labor Party when it comes to supporting jobs in Adelaide? Where is the Labor Party when it comes to supporting innovation in highly skilled technical exports? It is nowhere. It is tied up in a xenophobic campaign that is costing Australians jobs. On this side of the House, we are about jobs. On about that side of the House, they are about politics.