Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. He would well know, as is clear from the content of his question, how crucial innovation is not only to this government but also to the electorate that he represents and to this city in which the parliament is located. It is the case that we have a number of outstanding research institutions here, operating through the two universities, the University of Canberra and the ANU, but we also have a significant CSIRO presence. I too am a great fan of Questacon. I think it provides immeasurable benefits, not only in its research but in its communication and education functions, which are very highly developed and which many young Australians benefit from.

The fact is that the government's spending on science and innovation increased by around 43 per cent from 2007-08 to 2011-12. The government recognises that innovation is the key to making Australia more productive and competitive. All of the big challenges that we have ahead of us, but particularly climate change, social disadvantage and health problems, can be better managed if we have a strong innovation drive coming through our industries and our economy. We have introduced a number of important and crucial initiatives. I referred to one of them in my previous answer to a question from the member opposite—the new research and development tax credit. There is also Commercialisation Australia, the Super Science Initiative and further support for the venture capital industry. There are new initiatives including Inspiring Australia and Clean 21.

The budget has a number of important measures that the government decided to provide specific support for in science, industry and research. There is support for the bid to host the square kilometre array radiotelescope with New Zealand. The member has asked me a question about that and I will return to that in a moment. There is the Buy Australian at Home and Abroad measure. There is support for the implementation of the National Construction Code—a great opportunity for innovation in the built environment, where we know that there is so much leakage of greenhouse gas emissions. There is also Science for Australia's Future. In particular, there is funding for ANSTO to allow it to continue to decommission obsolete facilities, facilities which have reached the end of their useful life. We are proud of the commitment that we have made to innovation. We are providing considerable support.

We are very excited in particular about the SKA project, which the member referred to earlier on. What tremendous benefits there would be here. We would have the biggest telescope in the world in our backyard. What a coup this would be for Australia as a driver of innovation and science in this country. We think that this project has the potential to bring substantial economic benefits to regional communities, to Indigenous people. It will bring high-skilled jobs, major construction, significant operation contracts, technology transfer, and innovation and technology focused support industries. All of these mean that Australia can be the location of the world's largest, fastest and most sophisticated data processing and transport network. I think this is a project that we are going to hear a great deal more about, not only in the parliament but more widely afield. The funding we have put in place means that we can make a competitive bid to host this project and really take our place as a major partner in one of the most significant scientific endeavours of the 21st century. What do we see as a government and what does the minister identify as absolutely critical in terms of potential benefits? Clearly it is technology spin-off and commercialisation opportunities, as valuable potentially as the globally used Wi-Fi technology already developed by CSIRO and technology that emerged from radioastronomy research. What a tremendous example for us that can tell us where the square kilometre array project might take us. We think the opportunities here are really significant, and I am absolutely pleased that the government has been able to provide the funding to support a competitive bid for a project of this scope and possibility.

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