Australia to plough A$1.1b into switch from mining to tech
Published :Tuesday, 8 December, 2015, Time : 12:00 AM View Count : 17
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