Page 3044 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 16 September 2015
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Opposition members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Barr.
MR BARR: They are so easy. The government is very pleased to continue to work to diversify our economy and I thank Dr Bourke very much for bringing this motion before the Assembly this morning. Our aim is to ensure that our city keeps growing, that we keep creating high paying and secure jobs and that we remain resilient in the face of national and international economic forces. Our 2012 business development strategy—growth, diversification and jobs—committed to three strategic imperatives: fostering the right business environment, supporting business investment and accelerating business innovation. Arising from the 212 strategy we established the CBR Innovation Network as a partnership between the research sector—the ANU, UC, NICTA, CSIRO and UNSW Canberra—and the business community and government. This is a major nation leading outcome for driving innovation.
Having delivered on all of the commitments under the 2012 strategy I recently released our new strategy, “Confident & business ready: building on our strengths”. In that strategy we reframed the strategic comparatives to build on what had already been achieved and we are now committed to three key areas: continuing to create the right business environment, accelerating innovation to create wealth and jobs and supporting business investment in future growth areas. In this task we are building on established successes.
The commonwealth government’s Chief Economist recently released a report on innovation and entrepreneurship. The report Australian geography of innovation and entrepreneurship substantiates the policy directions that we have developed and implemented. The report found:
On a population adjusted basis the ACT is the highest performing of all Australia’s States and Territories on both innovation and entrepreneurship.
I think that is worth repeating. The commonwealth government’s Chief Economist, in his report Australian geography of innovation and entrepreneurship, found:
On a population adjusted basis the ACT is the highest performing of all Australia’s States and Territories on both innovation and entrepreneurship.
This is a very pleasing endorsement of the government’s policy direction. As Dr Bourke has outlined, and it is worth reiterating, the report found that on a population-adjusted basis the ACT has the highest rate of research and development expenditure, the highest number of patent applications, the highest number of trademark applications, the highest number of business entries and the second highest business survival rate. These are remarkable findings and really go to show what business can achieve when given the right tools and support by a territory government willing to listen and deliver.
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