Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Employment (Senator Abetz) and the Minister for Defence (Senator Johnston) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

I am fascinated by Minister Abetz's additional answer on NICTA! He confirmed the government is abandoning NICTA by a reduction of their funding to no government support after 2016. He then went on to suggest the private sector will fill the gap and—the most ironic of all his statements—appealed to the German government to fund NICTA. That seems to be the implication of what he said today.

The Prime Minister's efforts at the G20 to boost Australia's international reputation have fallen on deaf ears. The government was severely embarrassed by the contradictions in its policy. It was embarrassed by President Obama's speech, which implicitly chided the government for its inaction on climate change. It was embarrassed by its stubborn refusal of the invitation to join other G20 members in creating the Green Climate Fund. Of course, it has been profoundly embarrassed by the visit today of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to Australia's internationally respected information technology research agency, NICTA.

Germany is the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest economy in the world. Germany is a prominent exporter. It has built its prosperity on the capacity to export machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals and household goods, and it is a longstanding exponent of advanced manufacturing because it takes seriously the advances in the skills of a highly trained, high-wage workforce—by government investment in those things. The German government has invested heavily in education, including in higher education. In fact, Germany has recently restored free university education. It is somewhat bizarre, therefore, that the Prime Minister lectured the Chancellor and other G20 heads about the government's education agenda.

German governments, both Left and Right, have also invested heavily in industrial innovation to commercialise the fruits of research. They understand that there is a need for and how important it is that there be a longstanding commitment from governments to undertake that. That is why Germany built the Fraunhofer institute and Max Planck Institutes so effectively within the German innovation system. The real irony here is that Dr Merkel chose to visit NICTA because of its partnerships with the German Fraunhofer and the Max Planck institutes, and NICTA's relationship with German global transport logistics firms Hamburg Sud, DB Schenker and SAP. Given Dr Merkel's doctorate is in physics, she understands the importance of research scientists to the innovation system. I am certain she would have closely questioned those scientists and she also would have been seeking some advice from the ministers for industry and communications—because how can this government have chosen to abandon NICTA, given how important NICTA is to the development of ICT industries in this country?

At NICTA there are 300 PhD students. I understand that probably half our PhD students in ICT are trained through NICTA. We know that this is an agency of immense international importance. While I am sure Dr Merkel would have refrained from embarrassing her hosts, it is hard to imagine that she did not at least want to know why it was that the Abbott government was turning its back on NICTA, cutting it adrift and ending its funding in June 2016, when NICTA has been a powerhouse of Australian talent and Australian knowledge. Dr Merkel would have wanted to know why the investments in NICTA's German partners are being given such short shrift by this government. How ironic it is that Minister Abetz now says he is talking to the German chancellor about her investment in our public institutions. Surely Dr Merkel has wondered why the Abbott government has chosen not to include this crucial area of ICT amongst the growth centres that have been established under the so-called competitiveness agenda.

How embarrassing it is that such appalling statements by the government have come thick and fast over the last three days. Is it any wonder that this government is known for its hypocrisy? Its complete lack of vision has been exposed for the world to see. (Time expired)