Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pulled no punches in his assessment of government procurement, saying a fear of failure and lack of ambition is stifling innovation in Australia.
Turnbull, who spoke at The Tax Institute’s Tax Summit conference, said the strength of the innovation sector was being sold short by government’s failure to innovate.
“Public servants would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions of dollars with large international companies than take a risk on an Australian company,” innovationAus.com reported Turnbull saying.
Turnbull said Canberra should look to Washington’s approach to procurement and take a more innovative approach.
“Innovation is scary for some. A lot of people hear the word innovation and they think that means ‘some kid with an iPad is going to take my job’. On the other hand, if you’re not prepared to innovate you just get left behind,” Turnbull said.
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