StartupAUS, Australia’s national peak start-up advocacy group with a mission to transform Australia through technology entrepreneurship, recently welcomed Labor’s plan to support startups and push for an ‘innovation nation’ which was officially announced last month by the Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen and Shadow Minister of Communications Jason Clare.
In the announcement, Mr Shorten (pictured left) said a Labor Government would create 100,000 university placements for STEM students, a ‘Startup Year’ for 2000 final year university graduates to kick-start Australia’s aspiring young entrepreneurs, an entrepreneur visa to attract the best talent from overseas, and a ‘graduate’ entrepreneurship visa to encourage the most talented international students to stay in Australia after they complete their studies.
This is great news for our start-ups
CEO of StartupAUS, Peter Bradd, said StartupAUS was excited to see the significant focus from both sides of politics and welcomed the willingness to work together to build an innovation economy.
“This latest announcement confirms that the both sides of politics understand that the future drivers of Australia’s economic growth are innovation, entrepreneurship and a thriving tech startup ecosystem.
“Both major parties are increasingly making innovation a key priority area in order to ensure Australia remains competitive and prosperous. Startups will benefit from this increased attention, but the economy as a whole will be the real winner.
“Earlier this year, StartupAUS released the latest version of its Crossroads report – a credible, action-oriented plan to help Australia capitalise on the enormous opportunities technology presents. This document has been critical in shifting the political debate around policy settings to stimulate start-up activity and we are thrilled to see many of our recommendations being taken up by both major parties.
“As highlighted in the Crossroads report, technology-based startups have the potential to add over $US109 billion to Australia’s economy by 2033, creating more than 540,000 jobs in the process. This opportunity is too big to ignore,” Mr Bradd said.
