SYDNEY, Dec 7: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday unveiled a A$1.1 billion ($806 million) package to boost innovation in Australia, using his first major economic policy statement since becoming leader to map out a pathway beyond the country's fading resources boom.
The plan's incentives include reductions in the capital gains tax for startups, generous income tax rebates for retail investors, changes to bankruptcy laws to encourage more risk-taking by entrepreneurs and immigration changes to lure top talent.
"We have to work swiftly and nimbly and government has to lead the way," said Turnbull, a multimillionaire and former tech businessman. "The ideas boom is the next boom for Australia."
Australia faces a difficult transition with the winding down in the investment phase of the lucrative mining boom that has sustained its economy for more than a decade. The production phase of the resources boom has a while to run, with coal and iron ore remaining the country's biggest exports, but Australia is falling behind other economies that are more aggressively promoting high-tech exports.    -Reuters