George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

But—Mr President, through you—what I can advise Senator Carr is that the Productivity Commission report, commissioned by Mr Pearce, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, on 10 March last year, finds that the condition of R&D and of government support for R&D in Australia is healthy and increasing. Allow me—Mr President, through you—to direct to Senator Carr’s attention some of the key findings of the report. On page 22 it says:

Gross domestic spending on R&D in 2004-05 for governments, businesses, the higher education sector ... was around $15.8 billion (in current prices) or about 1.76 per cent of GDP ... Real total spending was about 50 per cent more than in 1996-97...

What do we know about 1996-97? That was when the party that Senator Carr represents in the Senate was last in office and last in control of R&D spending in Australia. So the first finding, Senator Carr, which you seem not to have noticed, is that the Productivity Commission report finds a 50 per cent increase in funding over the last 10 years. The author of the report goes on to say:

Australia’s total R&D to GDP ratio has increased at a much faster pace than most other OECD countries in recent years.