"Innovation"

[Crazy Dazz]

That seems to be the latest buzzword from the pollies.
When I hear it, I get the urge to reach down their throat and strangle them with their own tongue.

Sounds suspiciously like the 80's when Bob proclaimed we had to be the "clever country." Post mining-boom, hows that working out?

Exactly how many jobs do they think "innovation" is going to create?

Whether its the old "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" I don't know, but Australians have always been great innovators.
But where has that gotten us?

CSIRAC was one of the worlds first fully electronic computers. During the 50's' 60's, and even 70's Australian Universities were at the cutting edge of electronic research. Now many don't even offer the courses any more.
Back when Japan was still making slippers and pyjamas, we knew this would be the industry of the future. And how much of a share of that industry do we have now?
Back in the 80's & 90's a company I later worked for developed a world leading paperless office integration system. It literally won awards allover the world, and you've never even heard of it.
Did you know that Australian Currency technology is now in use allover the world?
We can innovate allright, but what's the point if we can't foster industry here?
And the problem is compounding. No industry means no jobs, no jobs means no students, no students means no university research, and ultimately the innovation dies.

Primary industry can nolonger provide large-scale employment. Basically anything labour intensive, either becomes mechanised, dies in the ****, or becomes the domain of Polish backpackers who think $20 a day is a living wage.
Mining, apart from going through a bust at the moment, is also becoming less labour intensive.
Service industries can only thrive whilst people have money to spend.
And of course what manufacturing we have left is also becoming more mechanised.
So where the heck are the jobs going to come from?