Exports and immigrants have masked Australia's poor R&D record. Here are some simple fixes

By George A. Tanewski, Professor in Accounting, Deakin University
Andrew Conway, Adjunct Professor Deakin Univeristy & Chief Executive Officer Institute of Public Accountants, Deakin University
James Kavourakis, Research Fellow at the IPA-Deakin SME Research Centre, Deakin University

Australia’s long run of economic growth from the early 1990s to early 2020 inspired much boasting by incumbent politicians.

But behind the hubris and headlines lies a less flattering story — about Australia riding a wave of dumb luck, with exports to China and relatively high levels of immigration masking mundane economic performance.

The most obvious expression of this is investment by Australia’s private sector — overwhelmingly made up of small-to-medium size (SME) enterprises — in innovation.

The sector’s expenditure on research & development — measured as…

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