Cook Medical has criticised current measures to encourage innovation in Australia, and is lobbying with the Export Council of Australia for tax incentives to manufacture locally.
“We’re quite positive about it,” managing director Barry Thomas told BRW of efforts to lobby federal politicians such as former industry minister Greg Combet and shadow industry minister Sophie Mirabella.
“We’re not asking for grants or funding upfront. We’re not asking for millions of dollars to be granted to the car industry or any other for that matter.”
Thomas said that current R&D incentives and grants to research institutes were not well spent if the patents and manufacturing were offshore.
Cook is putting forward a plan where, “If a company takes an idea, license or patent and manufactures it in Australia, it can claim back an allowance from their company tax once sales are made – amounting to 2 per cent of sales,” reports BRW.
Thomas said there was stiff international competition to attract businesses investment.
“Singapore has been encouraging us to move there with corporate tax rates less than 20 per cent,” he said.
“Even Japan came and asked us recently if we were interested in doing something in Osaka.”
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