Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will attempt to be brief. Labor initiated the inquiry in 2014 to fill the government's policy vacuum when it comes to science, research and innovation. Australia does need to plan to build an innovation ecosystem so we can create the high-tech , high-skill and high-wage industries and jobs out of the future.

The Senate referred to inquiry of the innovation system to the economic references committee and, as Senator Carr has indicated, we have so far received 181 submissions and have held four public hearings. The committee has agreed to table this interim report and to request an extension to present the final report by 25 November 2015.

The context of the report is that the OECD has stated that the capability to innovate and to bring innovation successfully to market will be a crucial determinant of the global competitiveness of nations over the coming decade. The OECD has also noted that innovative activity is the main driver of economic progress and wellbeing. This report goes to a number of those factors and draws on a number of submissions, and I quote the Professionals Australia, who have noted that innovation is a driver of both productivity and economic growth as shown by the United States where half of the economic growth in the last 50 years can be attributed to scientific innovation, despite a decline in mining productivity.

The reality we have at the moment—and Senator Carr has touched on this—is reflected in some of the statistics that are contained in the report which reveal that only 1½ per cent of Australia's companies developed new-to-the-world innovations in 2011 compared with figures of 10 to 40 per cent for businesses in other countries. There is a need for some serious further work to be done on this issue.

There have been very constructive hearings in Brisbane and Melbourne. I will just touch on very briefly the Brisbane hearing at which we heard the CSIRO; Australian National Fabrication Facility; the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology; the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, who provided a very interesting submission; University of Southern Queensland; Queensland University of Technology, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation; Russell Mineral Equipment, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Queensland, Cook Medical; Dr Geoffrey Garrett; and Professor Mark Dodgson.

As Senator Carr has indicated, the inquiry has identified a number of barriers to the flow of ideas, mobility and funding between private and public sectors which ultimately impede innovation—I will not touch on those. Australia needs a plan to build for our future. The purpose of the report is to generate further discussion and spark debate about Australia's innovation, and we look forward to reading the final report. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.