Recommendations made by the National Commission of Audit to abolish key innovation funding programmes are flawed and demonstrate a lack of genuine commitment to fostering a stronger Australian economy in the future, according to the Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL).
Yasser El-Ansary, chief executive, AVCAL, said: "The Commission of Audit has got this wrong – abolishing key support programmes such as the Innovation Investment Fund and Commercialisation Australia is not going to help our economy to become more innovative and more competitive into the future."
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El-Ansary added: "A small open market economy like ours has to focus on assisting Australian businesses to compete on the world stage, and that’s hugely important to bringing about productivity-enhancing reforms that will create more jobs and more economic growth in the years ahead.
"The Commission of Audit recommendations to abolish the Innovation Investment Fund and Commercialisation Australia have been made without there being any credible or compelling argument in support of the conclusions.
"What we wanted to see from this review was a comprehensive analysis of how government spending obligations can be re-prioritised to deliver greater economic efficiency, and better long-term outcomes for Australian businesses. In the context of Australia’s innovation system, the Commission looks to have fallen into the trap of taking a short-term view on cutting expenditure that will have a potentially devastating impact on our long-term prosperity.
"The Government needs to carefully consider the recommendations made in this report, and decide whether or not they can afford to abandon their support for the creation of a more modern and innovative future Australian economy.
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By GlobalData"Given the significant structural change that is taking place right now across key industry sectors such as manufacturing, the Government must put in place policies that promote greater private sector investment in new business ventures, which will ultimately play a vitally important role in Australia’s future economic growth."
