Biotechnology, R&D ignored in federal election campaign

Neither side in the upcoming federal election has made any significant announcements concerning the life sciences and biotechnology, which is further undermining confidence in the biotech industry, says Mark Horsburgh, President-elect of Licensing Executives Society Australia & New Zealand (LESANZ).

The scrapping of the Commercial Ready grants along with the global financial crisis both hit the biotechnology industry hard. The R&D Tax Credit was intended to provide some funding certainty to research-intensive businesses, such as biotechnology start-ups, but it failed to pass through the senate before July 1.

While Labor vowed to re-introduce the legislation at the next sitting of parliament and make it apply retrospectively to the financial year 2010-2011, the election has put the legislation on hold indefinitely.

The absence of any policy announcements concerning research or biotechnology from either party in the federal election risks further destabilising the biotechnology industry, says Horsburgh.

“I worry that if we don’t see anything happening in the R&D funding area for 12 months then by the time it comes through there’s not going to be a heartbeat in our biotech industry to restart it.”

Horsburgh is also concerned that a Liberal government will abandon the R&D Tax Credit legislation or have it redrafted, which could mean it doesn’t get passed until the next financial year, resulting in biotechs missing out on the credit this year.

“I tend to label Tony Abbott as ‘Captain No’,” Horsburgh said. “He disagrees with everything on principle, which means you never get to know what he actually wants to achieve and agrees with.

“If you go on past record of ‘Captain No’s’ approach, whatever the Labor party puts up, he’s going to change before putting it up again. That means it’s going to be back on the legislative cycle, and it means we won’t see anything happening for 12 months minimum.”

Horsburgh is also critical of Julia Gillard’s silence on R&D since she took over from Kevin Rudd.

“It seems that as soon as we changed Prime Minister, science disappeared off the agenda.”

Horsburgh hopes that there might yet be some policy announcements in the R&D and biotech spaces, which will raise confidence in the life sciences sector.

“What I’d like is in the election campaign is some announcements from one or both sides for some policy on R&D, and particularly on the biotech space, to show that there is government support.”