Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

They compare quite starkly with the absence of any vision, any focus or any long-term certainty, which the previous government provided for science and innovation in Australia. If you look at the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, the previous government left a funding cliff in place for that, and it took the Turnbull government to ultimately give that long-term certainty to those thousands of researchers around Australia that their research infrastructure would be funded and give that certainty well into the future. Of course, it was a Labor government that rolled out some $6 billion worth of cuts to higher education between 2011 and 2013, with little regard for the impact that would have on research and innovation. But overall it is those opposite who seem to show complete disregard for the importance of building and strengthening ties between research institutions and business to get that collaboration that drives innovation and ultimately drives more growth and jobs in the Australian economy.