John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry Innovation and Science. Will the minister update the House on the importance of innovation and commercialising research in creating jobs and growth in the Australian economy and in my electorate of Bennelong, the innovation capital of Australia.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bennelong for his question. He does have a very keen interest in innovation, because his electorate does have Macquarie University as well as important businesses like Cochlear and Microsoft. I know he visits them often and is deeply involved with them. He, like most members on this side of this House, recognises the transformative power of innovation in the Australian economy. Earlier in question time, the Treasurer was talking about our physical infrastructure and the government's commitment to physical infrastructure like roads and rail—

Mr Champion interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield will cease interjecting.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and the difference that will be making in the economy in terms of productivity. But the government is not only interested in physical infrastructure, as important as that is—and I see the member for Grayndler coming in like a spinner, as usual.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

As usual, the member for Grayndler cannot keep quiet, cannot keep it to himself. So here is a picture of another thing he is responsible for: Mount Rushmore. Apparently he designed Mount Rushmore, started the building program there—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House knows the rules about props. The Leader of the House will not use props.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table the member for Grayndler's other great achievements in building infrastructure when he was the Minister for Infrastructure!

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler, under provocation: do you have a point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Indeed, Mr Speaker. My point of order goes to relevance, because the only hole they have dug is the one they buried the former Prime Minister in.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler will resume his seat.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is very reliable. We are focused on our intellectual capital as well as our physical infrastructure. The government spends $9.7 billion on research and development across government. So we are doing our part. But while Australia is ranked sixth in the OECD for the quality of our research, it is ranked 33rd out of 33 for commercialising research. So we have a lot to do, and we will be building on the initiatives of the former Minister for Industry, Mr MacFarlane, around industry growth centres, Cooperative Research Centres and the Entrepreneurs' program to bring about new initiatives very soon that will create the incentives to commercialise ideas and embrace risk in this country, which is an important cultural change.

Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, understands that. He gave a speech to the National Press Club yesterday and he said: 'Technological innovation, our capacity to lead it and our capacity to embrace it, even when it is disruptive, will be the prime driver of long-term growth.' He is absolutely right, and we are fortunate to have a Prime Minister who is utterly focused on innovation, on research, on science and on ensuring that we commercialise the great ideas that Australian researchers produce but are not yet commercialising, because it leads to jobs and it leads to growth. In our economy in the future, this area, like start-ups, will be driving jobs and driving growth, and I look forward to explaining some of those initiatives over the coming months.