TREASURER and Minister for Economic Development, Andrew Barr says the Government will cut payroll tax and create a Red Tape Reduction Taskforce as part of its Business Development Strategy.

Announced by Mr Barr today, the strategy is aimed at creating “the right environment for business to thrive”.

“The Business Development Strategy lays the groundwork for a dynamic, innovative and diverse ACT economy,” Mr Barr said.

As well as cutting payroll tax and the creation of a Red Tape Reduction Taskforce, Mr Barr said the Government will also; introduce a new evaluation criteria for all goods and services tenders that puts a weighting against whether the tenderer is a local small or medium sized enterprise (SME) and its involvement with local businesses; establish a single entry point for business interactions with Government; and establish a Government Navigator Program to make it easy for SMEs to connect with expertise inside government.

“To support business investment, the Government will create a specialist unit within the Economic Development Directorate to facilitate and respond quickly to potential business leads across key government agencies,” he said.

“This will ensure investment facilitation becomes a specialist function within Government, and ensure that the Territory is seen as ‘open for business’ by establishing a Canberra brand that reflects the city’s commitment to a knowledge economy.”

Mr Barr said innovation was the foundation of economic growth and development, and “strong partnerships between government, business and education institutions are what innovation is built on”.

“To encourage innovation, the Government will: expand Innovation Connect to further support early-stage business innovation and assist entrepreneurs to commercialise and create value from their innovations,” he said.

“Provide new funding for clean tech and sustainability oriented companies, and provide new funding for major proposals on new innovation infrastructure; fund a feasibility study into the creation of a best-practice business incubator.

“Create the My Digital City Innovation Prize, to encourage tertiary students and all interested Canberrans in the development of new digital government services.

“Create the Global Connect program, to act as a single portal for the various trade development activities supported by the Government,

“Provide an extra $500,000 to the Canberra Business Development Fund,

“Support Canberra’s new and growing generation of entrepreneurs through mentoring, advice and, where appropriate, seed funding, and

“Double the funding for CollabIT to $100,000 to help small and medium sized enterprises in the ICT sector.”

Canberra Business Council CEO Chris Faulks said many of the initiatives contained in the strategy stem from  recommendations Canberra Business Council had made to Government in multiple submissions.

“While the overall thrust of this Strategy is welcomed by the Council, CBC would like to see more information about the level of funding that will be provided to introduce and support the programs outlined in the Strategy and wants clear timelines for implementation,” she said.

” We hope to see the detail and the dollars unveiled as part of the ACT Budget.

“For economic development to really take off in Canberra there will need to be substantial investment, beyond the Strategy itself, in enabling infrastructure.

“For example, the Strategy talks about the need to make Canberra a preferred tourism and business destination, but doesn’t provide a commitment to fund construction of a world-class meeting facility.”

Ms Faulks said the CBC will closely monitor the progress of the strategy against its indicators and will provide feedback on any areas not meeting expectations.

More information at economicdevelopment.act.gov.au