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

Thank you, Mr President. With respect to you, Senator Carr, I think I have acquainted myself more with the report in the last few hours than you seem to have done, because if you were better acquainted with the report which is the subject of your question you would not have omitted to notice the finding on page 45:

... Australia’s overall innovation and economic performance has been good compared with many high R&D performing countries.

Had Senator Carr taken the trouble to study the report rather than to rush into the chamber on the back of an incomplete report in this morning’s Canberra Times, he would also have noted the observation on page 347 of the report—and this is directly to the point of Senator Carr’s questions—which warns against cross-sectoral methodological error by picking out one aspect of R&D funding in isolation from other areas of R&D funding.

So the conclusion of the Productivity Commission report is that Australia’s R&D spending is 50 per cent greater than it was at the time your side of politics, Senator Carr, was last in power, has been accelerating at a rapid pace and has reached the OECD average, which is not where it was, Senator Carr, when the Australian Labor Party was last responsible for R&D.