This week in Canberra has been all about Opposition leader Sussan Ley, and the extraordinary dumping of the Liberals’ net zero policy.
At the centre of it all – in a backroom sort of way – was the shadow Industry and Innovation minister Alex Hawke, who was given the portfolio in the wake of the May federal election.
Mr Hawke is not well known to Australia’s tech and innovation community, but has been described as the “best political operator in the Liberal Party, bar none”.
A former Scott Morrison lieutenant, he knows how to count party room numbers and is hugely influential inside the political machinery of the opposition.
But he remains a bit of an unknown when it comes to specific policy directions he will pursue across the portfolio.
One thing we do know from an OpEd in InnovationAus.com is the welded-on focus on the primacy of the private sector as the innovation driver.
“I have concerns about the direction of Labor’s industry and innovation policy. The National Reconstruction Fund has become a vehicle for repurposing taxpayer dollars into politically favoured programs – recently diverting $5 billion into Net Zero priorities.”
“That might help a sector, but it won’t make Australia more innovative. Innovation doesn’t thrive when bureaucrats pick winners; it thrives when entrepreneurs take risks and investors have confidence to back them.”
The politics of Net Zero remains alive and well, even across Industry portfolio.
Speaking of picking winners, the US government’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected two Australian quantum companies for the Phase 2 of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.
The two Australian companies are now in the 11 companies across the world that DARPA believes could be on a technology track to building a first quantum computer.
That’s Silicon Quantum Computing and Diraq, both with research origins in the University of NSW.
That’s not a bad strike rate.
It also looks like a pretty good return on the $26 million investment that Malcolm Turnbull’s National Innovation and Science Agenda dropped on the UNSW’s Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.
DARPA has picked quite a few winners in its time, patiently and methodically. There are big dollars involved.
Australian companies and Australian research are at the literal forefront of quantum computing, and that’s exciting.
Also, in this episode of NewsWrap, you will hear some background on the strange ‘Statement on the Pathways to STEM Diversity review’ that was published by the Industry department.
The government has not formally responded to the review, despite then-Minister Ed Husic publicly announcing in March that it had accepted all 11 recommendations.
The lack of response has caused a lot of head-scratching. We discuss the compromised and conflicted responses from lobby groups like Science and Technology Australia and ATSE.
These organisations receive millions of dollars in funding from government to deliver STEM-related programs and warmly welcomed the Pathways statement, despite its obvious and glaring shortcomings.
These member-based organisations have been co-opted to the government cheer squad.
In the news:
Private capital is the key to Australia’s innovation gains – InnovationAus
‘Ruthlessly effective’: The Morrison lieutenant behind Ley’s leadership – The Saturday Paper
Sydney firms advance in $460m global quantum computing race – InnovationAus
Prime Minister hails UNSW’s quantum computing research – UNSW
Government sidesteps key STEM diversity recommendations – InnovationAus
Australia’s STEM diversity: A symphony of inaction – InnovationAus
CSIRO grounds missions model in research overhaul – InnovationAus
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.