Gear reforms to a land fit for uberpreneurs

THE Commission of Audit's advice must be conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship.

BEFORE Tony Abbott allows his Commission of Audit's recommendations to set the scene for savage cuts in the May budget, he should read Uberpreneurs by former Queensland chief scientist Peter Andrews and co-author Fiona Wood.

Why? Because the just published book highlights the sort of entrepreneurial creativity we need to grow our economy and protect our standard of living for the 21st century. There is no point having budgetary cuts unless they lead to a future where innovation and entrepreneurship drive economic activity and growth.

Only a former chief scientist like Andrews could come up with a book title such as Uberpreneurs. It means an individual with "an epic ambition to change the world"; a person who sees and seizes the opportunities for change.

Government reforms need to ensure they create an environment where Australian uberpreneurs can succeed.

Andrews and Wood have written about 36 such powerful individuals who are working on the challenges of feeding the world's future population of nine billion, eliminating AIDS, reining in obesity, tackling climate change, overcoming economic crises and building stronger, more inclusive societies. They come from 18 nations across all continents.

For me the most interesting part of the book centres on nine businesses that are reshaping entire industries in the West and building new industries in the developing world. They include Richard Branson, who set up Virgin airline in Queensland, and Chuck Feeney, an Irish American who is Australia's largest philanthropist and most significant private contributor to scientific research in Australian history.

One of the nine is Jeff Bezos, who is the ideal when it comes to American entrepreneurism. Bezos represents the American dream. He launched Amazon in 1994 in the garage of his rented Seattle home. Only two years later his company was listed on the NASDAQ, and is now the world's largest online retailer. It is also a major producer of consumer electronics and the largest provider of cloud computing. In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, a private company focused on enabling reliable access to space at dramatically lower costs.

When the Commission of Audit examines the "performance, functions and roles" of the commonwealth government, its recommendations need to take a long-term view. In turn, the Abbott government should ensure the final outcomes pass the Bezos test: that is, will they lead to a more innovative Australia which will drive jobs growth and make us more globally competitive?

Will the outcomes encourage Australian inventors to follow the examples of Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk to innovate and create businesses and jobs? Musk developed PayPal's financial systems, Tesla's electric cars, and is designing a commercial spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the international space station and, eventually, to Mars.

As I travelled through the southern US last week I found it hard to ignore the positive outcomes of the American obsession with entrepreneurism as the backbone of its political and economic system.

In North Carolina I visited the Research Triangle that emerged as the tobacco industry declined. Its dynamic university research facilities and educated workforce are a big attraction for businesses and investment in the state.

The Triangle has infected innovation statewide. The state's largest city, Charlotte, has established a Foundation for the Carolinas focused on philanthropy and investing in such areas as education. Winston-Salem has replaced tobacco with a focus on the arts as a tourism attraction and a key part of its hospitality industry. It even has a boulevard called Art for Art's Sake.

China, the world's leading manufacturer, will soon become the world leader in scientific publications. It is already the biggest producer of wind and solar power. To ensure our place in the 21st century, we have to be smart. America is already responding.

South Carolina, the home of BMW in America, Michelin and a large slice of Boeing, provides incentives to encourage investment.

The state of New York is running a heavy advertising campaign designed to attract business investment by offering 10-year tax breaks. Under former mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City became a silicon and tech city rivalling San Francisco, Boston and Seattle.

New York's technology and information sector is now the city's second most powerful economic driver after financial services. The Big Apple has 10 per cent of the country's jobs in the internet publishing and web search portal industry.

Australia has to look past the American idiosyncrasies that too often dominate our media, such as the Transportation Security Administration finding 1828 guns at airports in 2013 in carry-on luggage, 84 per cent of which were loaded and one in three had a bullet in the chamber ready to fire.

Too often in Australia we confuse Wall Street with hardworking Main Street businesses whose innovation drives the US economy. There is a lot to learn from American innovation. I hope Tony Abbott and his Commission of Audit are watching.