Innovation policy has become Frankenstein’s monster under the Minns Labor Government as they stitch together old funding, dead programs and Liberals and Nationals-era achievements.
The NSW Liberals and Nationals are challenging NSW Labor to reveal exactly how much of its Science and Innovation Fund (the Fund) contains new funding and how much has simply been rebadged from existing programs.
Shadow Minister for Science and Technology Jacqui Munro said Labor is trying to claim credit for an innovation ecosystem it had spent three years dismantling.
“Labor’s innovation policy has become a Frankenstein’s monster. Old announcements, flailing programs and Liberals and Nationals achievements stitched together in an attempt to jolt another media announcement to life,” Ms Munro said.
“NSW founders don’t build companies on press releases. They deserve to know today how much of the Fund is genuinely new investment, not in 12 months’ time.”
Since Labor was elected in 2023, NSW innovators have watched non-university programs and institutions disappear, shrink, and descend into uncertainty.
It is why Labor’s proposal raises questions about the expanded role of universities in their proposed funding structure, instead of injecting funding to solve the real problem at-hand.
Universities are essential research institutions and commercialisation partners, but they represent one part of the innovation ecosystem.
Cicada Innovations, based in Eveleigh, have reported that 76 per cent of their deep tech founders initiated their ventures independently of academia.
The Government must answer questions about how it will support entrepreneurs outside university pathways and ensure founders are not forced through additional layers of institutional bureaucracy to access commercialisation support.
Shadow Treasurer Scott Farlow said NSW could not afford innovation policy built around future promises while competitor states and countries around the world invest today.
“This is a Treasurer already making New Year’s resolutions for 2027, having failed to fulfill his promises for the last three years,” Mr Farlow said.
New South Wales is now recording the lowest Gross State Product (GSP) growth of any Australian state, has suffered through 15,300 business insolvencies in three years and is experiencing the lowest levels of business confidence on record.
The economic conditions for investment in New South Wales suggest to founders and funders that the necessary pipeline for growth, from idea to profitability, is failing.
When innovators and their businesses leave NSW, they also take their intellectual property, investment, jobs, supply chains and future industries.
The NSW Liberals and Nationals want NSW to be back at the top of the pack and have a plan to turn around the state’s grim economic figures.
Our plan to back businesses to create jobs, invest locally and grow our economy already includes:
- Raising the annual payroll tax threshold from $1.2 million to $1.5 million, meaning around 4,000 businesses will no longer have to pay payroll tax at all.
- Lowering the payroll tax rate from 5.45% to 4.75% for businesses with an Australian payroll below $10 million, meaning more than 25,000 businesses will be able to employ more people, increase wages and expand their operations.
- Indexing the payroll tax thresholds to inflation so growing costs do not automatically push more small businesses into paying higher taxes.
- Doubling funding for the Business Connect program, giving more small-business owners access to the practical advice and support they need to start, strengthen and grow their businesses.
