Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Minister Hunt correctly points out that I struggled with that, because I was thinking of a program of the Australian National University in my former electorate of Fraser but not in my current electorate of Fenner. For the minister's benefit, let me say a few words about that innovation program and the way that it is at risk from this government. The research being done at the Australian National University into solar, like the research being done at the CSIRO, means jobs of the future in renewables. Here we have a government that wants to fearmonger about renewables; it takes the excuse of a weather event to fearmonger about renewables jobs, despite the fact that almost all of the new electricity investment over the course of the past decade has been in renewables and the fact that innovation in renewables is a core part of the Australian renewables agenda.

The work that Australian universities do is absolutely vital in laying the platform for industry to succeed. That research needs to have the ability to focus on areas where scientists see new opportunities. If it is too boxed in, too directed, we may not come up with truly breakthrough innovations. Take the example of wi-fi, developed at CSIRO. The wi-fi technology came out of mathematical work on fast Fourier transforms. The scientists were not working on that particular problem with the goal of developing wi-fi, but they were able to develop wi-fi from it. That demonstrates the risk of telling scientists that they must only work on problems where, from the outset, they can see the commercialisation path. Great breakthroughs such as wi-fi often involve a little tinkering—giving great scientists the resources they need in order to make breakthrough innovation.

We on this side of the House understand how innovation happens. We understand the importance of supporting scientists to do great bench research. Here in the ACT I am extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with a range of the entrepreneurs who are at various start-up hubs across the ACT. The work of innovators in the ACT goes to innovators in defence technologies, in ICT, in textiles—right across the spectrum. They are young innovators and old innovators, and the innovation hub in the centre of the ACT has the highest share of women of any innovation hub across the country.

So while Labor support this bill, we do so with a wish that Australia had a government that could truly stand behind an innovation and science agenda. We do so with a wish that Australia had a government that could move beyond buzzwords and the sort of innovation agenda you would get if you googled '10 ideas for boosting innovation' to a true innovation agenda that transforms Australian thinking, through schools and universities and through providing opportunities for Australians to invest in science and reap the benefits through entrepreneurship.

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