Over the past six months, the R&D Tax Incentive became a discussion point and the major political parties have differed in their views. Labor sought to position themselves as prioritizing the R&D Tax Incentive over the coalition government, and had made specific policy announcements including: Criticising the programme’s cost reduction in the budget papers, and stating a Labor government would use the R&D Tax Incentive as a means of increasing Business Investment in R&D (BERD); A proposed introduction of a collaboration […]
Opposition Innovation, Industry and Science Spokesman Senator Kim Carr has been quoted in the AFR today with respect to Labor’s innovation policy during the federal election campaign. Carr Indicated that if Labor were to win the election, he would work with AusIndustry, the ATO and Treasury with respect to reviewing the processes for compliance assessments of R&D claims. Carr indicated that striking a balance between programme integrity and ensuring that claimants aren’t treated unjustly is important to ensuring the best […]
The Federal Government handed down their budget on 2 April 2019 and whilst there appeared to be no specific new changes proposed to the R&D Tax Incentive, the forward estimates cost of the programme is projected to reduce by $1.35 billion. It is not clear whether this cost reduction is a product of: The legislative changes proposed in the last federal budget being introduced. These changes were recently the subject of a Senate Economics Committee review that recommended the changes […]
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has stated that government, industry and researchers must work together to ensure solutions are developed for potential opportunities and issues posed by artificial intelligence (AI) products and services. Chief Executive Ron Gauci said that a focus on skills development and an effective R&D Tax Incentive programme would encourage a more favourable business environment for innovation, commercialisation and export of Australian AI products. He said that without strong government support, Australia will struggle to compete […]