The Victorian Government is in the hole for $196bn in net state debt – it hopes medical researchers have a ladder handy. But its new Industry Policy undervalues the vast resource 3km across town from parliament house.
Medtech and research is spruiked in the new state industry policy, which is heavy on hope and light on details for delivery.
Apparently, Investing in them will, “will strengthen Victoria’s position as a global health innovation hub, improving care economy outcomes and driving economic value.” But while specifics include, a fellowship programme for clinical trials they are mostly tick-a-box generalities, like leveraging the existing MedTech base to have “flow-on benefits to the broader care economy” and investing to make the state a stronger “global health innovation hub.”
And it would not be modern Victoria without a call to Canberra, “supporting our companies to secure Commonwealth industry incentives.”
Standard stuff out of the Andrews-Allan governments playbook, looking for maximum political return from high-profile, if not especially targeted He-research spending. During the pandemic the state government created the $350m Higher Education State Investment Fund, which worked on the “every vice chancellor wins a prize” principal, funding projects on respective wish lists.
There was more of the same last month, when the government provided state MRIs $24m over two years, “to meet the full costs of delivering life-saving medical research,” (Commonwealth grants don’t cover facilities and admin costs).
As a way of undervaluing a great state resource by piecemeal approach this is all hard to beat which seems strange in that medical research gives Vic Gov something to sell
Overall it claims to have invested $1.3bn in medical research since 2014, with more to come. It kicked in $50m in to drug manufacturer Moderna’s MRNA vaccine plant at Monash U Clayton. And there is $400m for an infectious diseases project, based on multiple institutions in the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct in Parkville which already has 30 hospitals universities and MRIs. The state government spruiks Parkville as generating 20 per cent of national patent citations and is keen to fill the incubator space for 40 start-ups, with a flash “Precinct Opportunity Statement”.
It’s a big deal indeed – and it would be bigger if all the links on state government sites for the MBP FC searched for on Vic Gov sites aren’t broken.