Despite “decades of rhetoric about becoming a ‘clever country’”, Australia is no closer to meeting its research and development aspirations, and “simply pouring more funding into a dysfunctional system” won’t matter unless the commercialisation imperative is addressed, according to the Australian Industry Group. Making its submission to the Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD),…
A measure of turnover data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics since 2021 has shown manufacturing outpacing all other industries for February, with a strong rise in metal products. The ABS’s experimental Monthly Business Turnover Indicator tracks 13 industries, with an aggregate rise in turnover of 0.2 per cent (in seasonally-adjusted terms) for the…
By Susan Stone, University of South Australia The past week has seen the United States single-handedly rewrite the underlying paradigm for global trade. And while it is fair to say that the methods are extreme, the underlying goal of the policy is not unique to the US. Indeed, the push to support, and expand, domestic…
By Felicity Deane, Queensland University of Technology US President Donald Trump has imposed a range of tariffs on all products entering the US market, with Australian exports set to face a 10% tariff, effective April 5. These import taxes will be charged by US customs on each imported item. The punitive tariffs on 60 countries…
US president Donald Trump has announced a ten per cent tariff on Australian exports to his country, “starting at midnight tonight”*, with barriers to US beef exports singled out in his justifications. In a “Liberation Day” address on Thursday morning (Australian time), the president said there would be a broad-ranging tariff on all Australian goods…
By Sandy Plunkett If Australia’s domestic manufacturing and tech sector had a dollar for every time political leaders have declared — in and out of election campaigns for decades — that innovative SMEs are the engine of the economy, we might have a small but globally significant 21st century manufacturing sector by now. If we…
The venture capital sector must shift focus from headline valuations and funding rounds to long-term economic contributions, including profitability, job creation, export potential, and flow on investment, argues John H Howard. Here he looks at the growth of VC in Australia, its appeal to policymakers, journalists and others, and calls for a balanced appreciation of…
The Australian government has a job to do: to decide not just how we deal with President Trump’s intended tariff regime, but what we do with the responses to those tariffs from major manufacturing territories such as India, China, ASEAN and the EU. By Julie Harrison. The Trump administration has introduced tariffs in its first…
Steve Camilleri, the CTO and co-founder of cold spray additive manufacturing business SPEE3D, has said in a new essay that the nation must back its innovators and stop squandering its opportunities. Darwin-based Camilleri – who has co-founded two companies commercialising globally-relevant, Australian-developed technology – argues that the country has repeatedly lost out and allowed world-leading…
By Scott French, UNSW Sydney US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have stated an exemption for Australia from Trump’s executive order placing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imported into the US is “under consideration”. But prospects remain uncertain. Albanese would do well to secure an exemption using similar arguments as…
