Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that in Government, the Coalition invested significantly in research and development, including an estimated $4.3 billion in 2020-21 through the education portfolio;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) Australia stands internationally as one of the highest performing contributors to foundational research, being responsible for 2.7 per cent of the world's scientific output, compared to being home to 0.34 per cent of the world's population; and

(b) in terms of research translation and commercialisation, Australian does not meet the same high performing reputation;

(3) further notes that the previous Government:

(a) agreed in February 2022 to a ten-year Research Commercialisation Action Plan to drive greater utilisation of research and collaboration with industry; and

(b) budgeted $2.2 billion to support its Research Commercialisation Action Plan to boost Australia's economic recovery, including:

(i) $1.6 billion for Australia's Economic Accelerator to establish a stage-gated program to support translation and commercialisation in the six National Manufacturing Priority Areas;

(ii) $243 million for the Trailblazer Universities Program to select universities to partner with industry to work on research; and

(iii) $296 million to support greater collaboration through 1,800 industry-focused PhDs and 800 industry fellowships over ten years; and

(4) calls on the Government to commit to implementing the Coalition's Research Commercialisation Action Plan in full and on-time, first with introducing legislation to establish Australia's Economic Accelerator.

Research commercialisation was a strong focus of the coalition government in our last term of governance. Why is that? In part it's because it goes to the heart of our economy, because when we do good research and we translate that into new products, new ways of doing things and new industries then we're growing the economy, we're creating new jobs and, ultimately, we're improving productivity. Indeed, it is one of the very few ways that you can improve productivity.

Australia produces excellent, world-class research. We punch above our weight in that regard. But we don't do as well in translating that research into commercial products. This was our main focus, which I was leading, in our last term of governance. For example, when you look at the number of papers written over the last 20 years, we've massively increased the number of publications. In 2000 there were 23,000 papers published by universities; by 2020 there were over 100,000 papers published. But when you look at the commercialisation metrics over the same 20 years, they had barely changed.

So what did we do? We took a very concerted effort to address this particular problem. We established an expert panel of 10 members—the most brilliant researchers, business minds and university leaders—who provided guidance to us on what ultimately became the package of measures which we introduced. That passage was called the Australian government's University Research Commercialisation Action Plan, released in February of this year. It lays out a comprehensive set of reforms to completely shift the dial in this area, unlike anything that had been done before. We backed the plan with money—$2.2 billion over the next decade—and we aligned the priorities around the six modern manufacturing strategy priorities, such that all of the initiatives and priorities of the government as a whole became those six modern manufacturing priorities.

The cornerstone of that plan was the $1.6 billion Australian Economic Accelerator. That's a 10-year investment in a competitive funding program where universities will, with their commercial partners, go through a series of stage gates. You start by applying for small amounts of money early on in the process, and gradually that amount of money increases as you get to stage 3. At stage 3 there can be contributions of up to $50 million made—they'll be done by CSIRO and they'll be done on an equity basis from them.

The second major element, which is already underway, is called the Trailblazer Universities Program. This was largely modelled off successful initiatives overseas, scaling up existing centres of expertise and industry collaboration. The aim was for these trailblazers to be world leaders in a particular area of focus—again, aligned with the modern manufacturing priorities—and that has taken off. We had so many fantastic applicants that we actually increased the number of trailblazer universities and the amount of money that we put in. Already, the results have been absolutely outstanding. Those six trailblazer universities that we supported have already established 170 industry partnerships, and more than 60 per cent of those partners are in small- and medium-sized enterprises. The trailblazers think they will create, through these initiatives, over 7,000 jobs.

On top of this, we supported more industry PhDs and more industry fellowships so that academics can make a whole career out of research commercialisation, just as they can make a career out of publishing pure research. We also reformed some of the other research programs to support this overall objective. We want our research to be terrific but we want it to be relevant for Australia and we want it to be translated into new products, new technologies and new industries. That's what this package will do. My call on the government is to get on with the job of putting the legislation through to implement the Economic Accelerator. I believe they support it. But just get on with it so that these universities can get on with the job.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, the motion is seconded.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do you reserve your right to speak?

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is without doubt that Australians are great innovators, and our research at Australian universities and research institutions has led to the discovery of some world-changing inventions. These include wi-fi, discovered by CSIRO researchers; the Cervarix cancer vaccine; polymer banknotes; and spray-on skin. The member for Aston's motion is, however, a brazen attempt to rewrite history about the former government's abysmal record of support for Australian universities.

Let's look at the facts. According to the Global Innovation Index, Australia has fallen six places, to No. 25, since 2013. Between 2018 and 2021, the Morrison government oversaw the steepest decline, from position 20 to No. 25. Similarly, in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index 4.0, Australia has fallen two places since 2018, to No. 16 overall but ranking as low as 29th in areas such as infrastructure and ICT adoption. Australia has fallen 10 spots in the past decade in Harvard University's Atlas of Economic Complexity. A 2019 International Institute for Management Development World Competitiveness Center study highlighted that Australia had slipped from ninth in the world in 2015 to 14th in 2019 for digital readiness.

And who can forget the coalition's abandonment of Australian universities during the pandemic? Forty thousand jobs were lost from higher education, and hundreds of courses were cut, including thousands of researchers. The coalition refused to support international students, telling them to go home instead during COVID-19. They politicised and interfered with research grants. This included significant delays when announcing outcomes and targeted cuts to the humanities, arts and social sciences disciplines.

The Albanese Labor government is supporting research, supporting innovation and supporting education. Labor made it clear before the election that we will support the University Research Commercialisation Action Plan, and that remains the case. Labor has also committed to 2,000 Startup Year loans to help support final-year students to bring their ideas to life. Working with higher education institutions, entrepreneurs and investors will be better placed to identify opportunities for commercialisation of university research. The $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund will turn science into jobs through co-investment, loans, equity and guarantees.

Labor has a strong record of investment in the University of Newcastle too. When Labor was last in government, we funded $30 million to the University of Newcastle's NUspace campus in the CBD; $212 million in research grants; $30 million to the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources; $20 million for a clean energy innovation centre; and $48.5 million for the Hunter Medical Research Institute. In 2022 Labor is partnering with the University of Newcastle again, to build a new facility to test and invent solutions to global challenges when it comes to the use of hydrogen and other new energy industries.

We are investing $16 million in the University of Newcastle to provide the enabling industrial-scale infrastructure that is needed to get a new energy skills hub off the ground and running. The skills, techniques and technologies developed by this project will enable local industry, including the new hydrogen investments that we have announced for Port of Newcastle, to grow to their fullest potential and to do that in a safe and speedy manner.

The Albanese Labor government supports research and education so that Australians will continue to be the great innovators of the future, as we always have been.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to be speaking in support of this motion today in two facets. One is the commercialisation of Australian research is an important personal issue for me and is one of the reasons that I entered into this field, and the second, more importantly, is what this speaks to for our community in terms of the careers, livelihoods and fulfilment of future generations of Toowoomba region's youth. The previous government had a proud legacy of supporting education, research and development in this country. Over the last nine years we increased the funding to universities by 34 per cent to $19.5 billion and increased the number of government supported university places by 11 per cent to 640,000. We also invested heavily in research and development. In my electorate of Groom we were a major beneficiary of this estimated $4.3 billion of investment in the last financial year, through the education portfolio. Both the University of Southern Queensland and the University of Queensland received great support to embark on new research projects in the Toowoomba region. The biggest of these investments were two Trailblazer grants totalling $100 million across two universities and creating an estimated 2,400 jobs.

At UniSQ, the $50 million Trailblazer grant will be used for the establishment of the Innovation Launch, Automation, Novel Material, Communications and Hypersonics hub—which can be shortened to iLAuNCH, for the marketing people in the building. This will help the Toowoomba region's burgeoning space industry blast off, unlocking a whole new galaxy of jobs for our young people. UniSQ's research will be happening alongside 23 partners, including 17 small and medium enterprises, ensuring that the conversion of this work to commercial application remains front of mind. Along with that, we've seen Boeing's Loyal Wingman project set up shop at the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, a stone's throw from the university campus. Now Virgin Orbit have announced plans to launch its first Southern Hemisphere test flight from Toowoomba in 2024. The opportunities for collaboration are truly endless. In our region, when we see research into the space industry, we see how that can transmit across into defence—obviously at Oakey we have a proud tradition, as well as at Cabarlah, with our defence industry there—but there's an opportunity for us to tie these two together, as we see the coming innovations and the coming research that we'll need to drive our defence industry forward.

I pause to note just how much Toowoomba has changed. We have become, in a very short space of time, on the back of these significant government investments, a centre for space engineering and space research in Australia. This was a town that was once known for its dairy industry, for mining out at Oakey and for heavy agriculture. Now we're changing. We're becoming something more than we were, as we grow into a city that has more than just the things you need but has the things you want. Part of that is the opportunity for young people to have a completely different career path. They can learn, study and have a career in the Toowoomba region in this exciting new field. That's something that's fantastic in a regional centre like ours. It speaks to the success of the drive towards regionalisation that the previous government undertook.

The second $50 million Trailblazer grant was secured by UQ to accelerate our world-leading agritech industry and to capitalise on new opportunities for Australian products in food and beverage supply chains. One of the 14 industry partners involved in this project is the Toowoomba region's own Agtech and Logistics Hub. This hub, located at the innovative AATLIS precinct in Charlton, is all about providing a space for this blending of research and commercialisation to occur. When I was last there, it was great to see the traditional agriculture businesses, machinery manufacturers, and research and tech companies all sharing their ideas together. It was also great, during their time in government, to have the members for Hume and McPherson come and see firsthand how these investments are bringing together different technologies. I think that's one of the great learnings that we have: how, with this investment, we can help bridge the gap between research and industry, which is often referred to as the 'technology valley of death' and which is something that, in my time working for a CRC, we saw as very, very important. This is the one space in technology that government has a real role in: pulling collaboration together.

Technology without an application has no value. That's an old saying and I think it's so, so true. The investments that the previous government made were bringing value to technology that had been developed here in Australia and providing that commercialisation opportunity. I'm very, very glad to report that, for example, the Trailblazer funding for UniSQ announced in April has already seen support from industry come flooding into our region. This is a fantastic funding stream, and it must be continued.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Innovation is absolutely central to our economic progress and our global competitiveness as a country. There is no dispute about that. But innovation is driven by innovators. So let's meet some innovators. I'm someone who has come from an academic background. I was an associate professor at a university and I led a medtech entity at one of those universities, so I do know something about innovation.

Let's meet some of those innovators. Sebastian is four years following his post doc, his PhD, and he's focused on developing a battery that does not rely on critical minerals. Sebastian has just learned that his professor has been denied funding after five attempts at writing a grant, and this means that the professor is going to have to lay off staff, including Sebastian. As I speak to Sebastian, he's googling job opportunities in the United States. Then we meet a woman with two children. Let's call her Michelle. Michelle did a PhD. She won lots of awards and then, once her children came, she really, really struggled to get back into that research pipeline. This was despite writing numerous grants in the middle of the night, on weekends and after hours. Each grant would take one month to write. She would hope that the reviewer looking at those grants would understand that being a working mother is not easy in the research space. Then, of course, we have Jim and Bruce, two entrepreneurs who have successfully got a startup, which has a proven, working prototype in wave energy. They've been given some funding by the government to take them to the next stage. However, they're now staring down the valley of death because business and venture capital investment in Australia has been declining and they just can't find takers. This is what it is like currently in Australia.

The coalition would have us believe that they have the answers: a new program with lots of money—throwing around the words 'accelerator', 'trailblazer', 'pioneer' or whatever you want to call it. The reality is that the coalition abandoned universities in their moment of need in the first couple of years of this pandemic. How much money did universities get from JobKeeper? They got nothing. As a result, we saw the departure of 41,000 jobs from the sector. Those job losses disproportionately affected women. Sixty-one per cent of those job losses affected women in a sector which already has very low representation of women academics. Less than one-third of the academic workforce in universities in STEM is women. Women comprise 13 per cent of employees in STEM related occupations in Australia. If we look at the metrics coming out soon, I'm sure that it will be lower as a result of this action. Despite not funding universities, the coalition still found $291 million to provide to a casino—we all know which casino that was—so there was no money for universities but plenty of money for gambling.

We then saw the coalition wave away the international students. They actually said to them, 'Go home.' That's what the former Prime Minister said: 'Go home.' Not only was that callous, it also sounded a little bit racist, to be honest, and it was an absolute violation of the values of common decency and care that we as Australians hold dear. The Global Innovation Index, which is a benchmark international ranking system, has shown that Australia ranks 25th out of 132 countries. Under the coalition, we have dropped another six spots—five under the Morrison government. Business investment in Australia has been declining, and that has really fallen in parallel with the decline of our manufacturing sector. And, in terms of our ranking in the OECD for business collaboration with industry, you can see that we are actually right there—right at the bottom.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not in order to use props.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. So we have a real issue in this country. We do absolutely want to increase business collaboration between industry and higher education, and we can look to the Global Innovation Index for answers, because it shows us that there are 81 indicators that feed into a multifaceted program that boosts innovation—things like human capital; focusing on education in the early years; focusing on child care so that women can go back to work; focusing on improving competency in maths, reading and science in our 15-year-olds; and looking at how we can access better skilled workers in the knowledge industry and how we can actually take those ideas and then diffuse them through the system.

So innovation is a lot more complex. It is multifaceted, and that is why we as a government are taking a multifaceted approach to actually boosting innovation. We are investing in the early years; we are investing in our teachers with a national action plan that will be delivered by the end of this year; and we're also setting up a university accord. This is how you tackle a complex problem: with complex, multifaceted solutions.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the motion and call on the government to support the implementation of the coalition's University Research Commercialisation Action Plan in full and on time. If implemented, this plan will see Australia's universities and businesses partner together to release the currently untapped potential of the excellent Australian tertiary research that is undertaken in our universities. Research is critical to our nation's economic growth and productivity. Australia's research system is world class. Australian universities have established their reputation for research excellence. Despite these efforts, while Australia produces world-leading foundational research, we currently underperform in achieving commercialisation outcomes.

Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon we have to change the world. Higher education, amongst other things, promotes and supports research that often leads to critical breakthroughs in science, technology, health and medicine. Australia has excellent tertiary institutions. In a rapidly changing, highly competitive global economy, Australia's future prosperity lies in leveraging the excellence of our research sector through commercialisation that benefits our economy and our society. The former coalition government led the way by promoting access to higher education, increasing funding to our nation's universities by 34 per cent, with total government funding levels increasing to $19.5 billion this year. Commonwealth supported places increased by 11 per cent, allowing 640,000 more students to gain access to some of the world's greatest tertiary education institutions.

The electorate of Hughes is home to the Southern Sydney campus of the University of Wollongong, where students can receive a world-class education in business and nursing without having to leave the Sutherland Shire. Close to the western boundary of the Hughes electorate in the Liverpool CBD, new campuses of Western Sydney University and the University of Wollongong provide options for undergraduates, including many students within the Hughes electorate, as an alternative to travelling to the more established universities which are located within Sydney's CBD. The proliferation and success of these outer Sydney campuses demonstrate the increasing wide-ranging diversity within our tertiary education sector. With Australia's population representing just 0.34 per cent of the total world population, our foundational scientific research output represents 2.7 per cent of the total global output. As a nation, Australia should be proud of the academic expertise held within our universities.

This side of the House knows that we cannot have a strong economy and a successful nation without robust support for education, which includes tertiary education. We invest in education to create a nation of smarter people with smarter ideas to boost productivity, create jobs and establish new industries. The previous government's University Research Commercialisation Action Plan would build upon our robust educational foundations and pay out dividends in the form of these jobs and industries.

Government support for the translation and commercialisation of our strong, foundational scientific research into a greater economic output will bring us in line with other leading nations, such as the United States, Germany, Israel and the United Kingdom. The former government's action plan includes four key reforms: prioritising national manufacturing, prioritising schemes to ramp up commercialisation activity, reforms to university research funding to provide for genuine collaboration with industry, and investing in people who are skilled in university-industry collaboration.

I call upon the government to implement the action plan developed under the former coalition government to fully capitalise on the potential of our tertiary research. This overarching strategy for research commercialisation will create the next generation of great Australian products and companies. If the reform priorities are implemented, it will supercharge the generation and translation of Australian research into new commercial products, providing the basis of the innovative new businesses and jobs of the future. The government must consider this not as a cost but as an innovative long-term investment in our nation's future.

Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Illawarra is a powerhouse of innovation and research. We are a region that hosts a mighty manufacturing industry, with a thriving port at Port Kembla. We've got magnificent beaches and subtropical rainforests and, of course, a world-class university in the University of Wollongong. The University of Wollongong, and universities broadly, play such an important role in our society, not only as educational institutions but as incubators for innovation and research—solving problems, inventing new solutions, bringing economic opportunities and even saving lives.

Labor has always been the party that supports research. We understand the power of education to change lives. We support our schools, our universities and our TAFEs because we know that Australians are great innovators.

I can think of no greater example of the creativity, intelligence and passion that goes into innovation than our own local champion Professor Justin Yerbury AM. Justin is a professor of neurodegenerative diseases at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, at the University of Wollongong. Justin's family history of motor neurone disease and the loss of his mother, his grandmother and an aunt inspired him to learn more about the illness. He enrolled in science at the University of Wollongong and then pursued his doctorate.

However, while conducting his research, Justin was also diagnosed with the disease. But Justin persevered with his research, and now, six years later, he has been awarded the 2022 University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for scientific research. He will also be getting the keys to the City of Wollongong. While Justin works to overcome his progressively worsening condition, his research has challenged prevailing thought about the pathology of motor neurone disease and is driving new research into the causes of cell dysfunction.

Justin's story of innovation and research is just one of many to emerge from the University of Wollongong. With our government's commitment of $10 million to build an Energy Future Skills Centre at the university, as well as $2.5 million for a renewable energy training facility at Wollongong TAFE, I am sure there will be many more stories of innovation to come for our region.

Brilliant and innovative minds deserve the government's support, because research and development not only bring opportunities to improve lives and societies but also bring economic opportunities for our people. The universities that educate and nurture these minds also deserve support. Our universities suffered greatly during the pandemic: 40,000 jobs were lost in the sector, hundreds of courses were cut and we lost thousands of researchers. Similarly, international students were told to go home by the previous government. These losses have hurt real people and the communities where they live and work.

In addition to this, those opposite increasingly sought to politicise and interfere in research grants. There were significant delays in the announcement of outcomes, and the humanities, arts and social sciences were targeted. The coalition's interest in supporting Australian innovation has been patchy at best. Since 2013, Australia has fallen six places in the Global Innovation Index; we are now ranked 25. The steepest decline, from rank 20 to 25, was under the Morrison government. Since 2018, we have fallen two places in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index 4.0, and Australia ranks 91 in Harvard University's Atlas of Economic Complexity.

But Labor is committed to education, we are committed to research and we are committed to innovation. Labor made it clear before the election that we support the University Research Commercialisation Action Plan, and nothing has changed—but we will do more. Labor has committed to 2,000 Startup Year loans. These loans will help final-year students to bring their ideas to life. Working with higher education institutions, entrepreneurs and investors will be better placed to identify opportunities for commercialisation of university research. Labor also has the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund. This fund will turn science into jobs through co-investment, loans, equity and guarantees. It's a nation-changing investment.

Under those opposite, our international rankings have slipped, but Labor knows that, with a government that actually cares about research and development, Australia can do great things. And with brilliant minds, like Professor Justin Yerbury's, and world-class institutions like the University of Wollongong supporting them, combined with Labor's policies and values, research and innovation in Australia will be well placed to solve the problems of today and tomorrow.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.