Innovation Voucher Program

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (14:40): Supplementary: how is success defined by the government when giving these grants? Who makes the assessment: a committee or individual departmental officers?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:40): We regularly review our grants programs. I think the Frost and Sullivan report had a look at a number of our grants programs. I have talked in this chamber before about the Frost and Sullivan report that looked at (I don't have the figures in front of me at the moment) the massive leverage that has been made off grants like Business Transformation Vouchers and Innovation Voucher Program grants, which have many times over stimulated sales and revenue. We do go through independent validation of our grants programs, and certainly the recent Frost and Sullivan review showed them to be extremely successful.