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Government Policy and Treasury

Omnibus Bill – Reduction in R&D Tax Offset Rate

September 19th, 2016

The Omnibus Bill passed both houses of parliament last week and included $6.5 billion of savings measures. Included within these measures was a uniform 1.5% reduction in the R&D Tax Offset rates applying for income years starting on or after 1 July 2016. Whilst returning the budget to surplus is an important task for the government, this reduction is disappointing as the R&D Tax Incentive is the primary mechanism for inducing corporate investment in R&D Activity. The stability of the […]

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Cutting Renewable R&D Funding in Australia

September 14th, 2016

  The Omnibus Bill As Australia’s government prepares to cut spending in order to repair the budget the Omnibus bill has been proposed, including in it a $1 billion cut to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which will effectively eliminate the agency. Without ARENA funding R&D, renewable energy research will grind to a halt as the policies and cuts being proposed have the potential to set the country back roughly 30 years. The World is Taking Notes For many […]

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Is Innovation Growth Suffering in Australia?

August 22nd, 2016

During the 2016 Australian Financial Review innovation summit this past week, Dr. Alan Finkel Australia’s chief scientist, spoke to the imbalance of government spending on innovation. Business Insider quoted Dr. Finkel saying, “If science turns money into knowledge – then innovation turns knowledge back into money, and generally a lot more money than the taxpayers put in.” While referring to the potential gains of innovation investment from the government, the Doctor proceeded to share a shocking statistic that industry leaders […]

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Two New Tax Incentives for Startups Confirmed

May 5th, 2016

Customarily, when people consider innovation they often concentrate on the end product – i.e. the app, the software or the piece of hardware. However, they generally dismiss the steps beforehand that are essential in developing the aforementioned innovative artefact. In particular, policies can play a large part in the innovation process. In relation to this, there have been significant announcements regarding innovation policies of late. On Tuesday night, the 2016-17 Federal Budget was released, which notably proposed changes to lower […]

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