SENATE

42 SENATE Thursday, 13 October 2016
Similar to other Commonwealth statutory bodies, the board will develop a Statement of Intent in response to the
Government's Statement of Expectations. It is government practice for Ministers to issue a Statement of Expectations to a
statutory body to provide greater clarity about the government policies and priorities it is expected to observe in conducting its
operations. The Statement of Expectations and the Statement of Intent recognise the independence of Innovation and Science
Australia's statutory functions.
This Bill will mean that Innovation and Science Australia will have the flexibility, capability and capacity to provide
strategic advice on all industry, innovation, science and research matters. It will improve the outcomes of the Australian
Government's substantial investment in science, research and innovation. All Australians stand to benefit if we can deliver on
our potential.
Aside from establishing Innovation and Science Australia, the Bill also provides a transparent and accountable mechanism
for implementing Commonwealth spending decisions on industry, innovation, science and research activities through
legislative instruments. This mechanism has been structured to support collaboration across the whole of government on these
activities, which is a key concern being addressed by the National Innovation and Science Agenda.
The ability for the Commonwealth to prescribe programs and identify operational elements of spending activities in
subordinate legislation in this way provides a level of flexibility for the government to be agile and meet changing demands
whilst ensuring its activities and programs are effective, robust , sustainable, and subject to parliamentary oversight.
To conclude, the story of Australia has been a story of innovation.
We've shown we're a nation that can harness its ingenuity to create opportunity and prosperity.
Our future prosperity depends on our ability to innovate. The Government will continue to play its part, getting the settings
right to encourage existing firms to grow and new firms to start, creating new opportunities and driving jobs and prosperity.
We can boost Australia's innovation capacity by better coordinating our investment in innovation, science and research
activities.
This Bill lets us bring Australia's leading minds to bear—from business, commercialisation and research—to make our
investments perform better for all Australians. It will point the way for turning today's investments to tomorrow's innovations,
to the jobs of the future.
I commend the Bill to the Chamber.
Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate)
(12:53): Labor support this bill, which essentially implements policies we announced before the election. The bill
facilitates the transition of the Innovation Australia board to a new body, Innovation and Science Australia, and
provides legislative authority for Commonwealth spending on science, research and innovation programs.
Innovation and Science Australia mirrors the agency announced in our policy, Innovate Australia, and is
intended to provide independent advice to the government on innovation policy. We are pleased that the Turnbull
government has taken this approach, and we look forward to working with the new agency in the future.
As senators would be aware, 'innovation' became a buzzword after Mr Turnbull replaced Mr Abbott as Prime
Minister in September last year. The word had been all but banned under Mr Abbott, but under Mr Turnbull its
use suddenly seemed to become almost compulsory. It is a good thing that the government now accepts that a
modern economy must be an innovative economy. That said, however, there is much more to fostering a genuine
culture of innovation than talking about start-ups, disruption and gee-whiz technology, as the newly installed Mr
Turnbull liked to do. The government has yet to show that it can get past its obsession with gee-whizzery.
A comprehensive innovation policy should aim at transforming the economy, industry by industry and firm by
firm. That is the approach needed to make Australia more globally competitive and to create the high-skill, highwage
jobs of the future. It is an approach that proceeds incrementally, but an incremental approach is not a
piecemeal approach. Yet, piecemeal tinkering is all the government has offered since it announced its National
Innovation and Science Agenda in December last year.
The Abbott government ripped more than $3 billion from science, research and innovation programs. NISA has
restored only $1 billion of that investment in the nation's future. This is innovation-lite, and it is not enough to
create the culture of innovation that Australia needs in the wake of the mining boom. Labor is firmly committed to
building that culture. It is why during the election campaign we announced investment of more than a billion
dollars in science and research, on top of our commitments in schools, TAFE and universities. For Labor,
fostering innovation is bound up with our commitment to social democracy. It is about building an Australia that
not only creates wealth but where all have the opportunity to share in that wealth and realise their full human
potential. We will support any measure that contributes to achieving this goal. In that spirit, we support this bill.
Senator RYAN (Victoria—Special Minister of State and Minister Assisting the Cabinet Secretary) (12:56): I
commend the bill to the Senate.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
CHAMBER