{"id":38315,"date":"2023-10-20T14:55:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/labor-questions-independence-of-startupaus\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:55:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:55:39","slug":"labor-questions-independence-of-startupaus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/labor-questions-independence-of-startupaus\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor questions independence of StartupAUS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ed<\/div>\n

Labor would consider stripping\u00a0StartupAUS of government funding if it wins the upcoming election, with the opposition’s\u00a0startup spokesperson questioning the lobby group’s independence.<\/p>\n

Announced on Thursday<\/a>, the independent representative body for startups will be receiving up to $360,000 in federal funding across three years to complete research reports exploring \u201careas of key interest in the startup sector\u201d.<\/p>\n

The lobby group will receive $120,000 in funding annually for the first two years, with an optional third year of funding also available.<\/p>\n

But shadow parliamentary secretary assisting with startups Ed Husic says he\u2019s concerned about StartupAUS\u2019 future independence and that a Labor government would reconsider this grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re prepared to review the grant if we get into office,\u201d Husic tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a number of concerns about the way this issue has been managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy big concern is that the Coalition has a very firm policy that if it funds a group it does not want that group to criticise the government.<\/p>\n

“StartupAUS has been respected because it is seen as independent and it should absolutely be avoiding the creation of any perception that because it is being funded by the government it can\u2019t lobby the government for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns over a conflict of interest<\/h3>\n

According to StartupAUS CEO Alex McCauley, the not-for-profit\u2019s independence has already been assured.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very clear when we agreed to take on the work that StartupAUS would have complete editorial control over the report themselves and that the funds were directly linked to the reports and nothing else,\u201d McCauley tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cStartupAUS has always called it how we see it and we\u2019ve always worked with anyone that wants to work with us. There\u2019s never been a conflict there and there isn\u2019t one now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Husic says only time will tell if the group still has full editorial control on the work it has been commissioned to complete by the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can say that but unless it\u2019s backed up by words in a contract or agreement he\u2019ll find that the ambition doesn\u2019t match reality,\u201d Husic says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019ve got a commitment from the government to respect their independence then I\u2019m all in favour of that, but the devil is in the detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due process<\/h3>\n

The opposition\u2019s startup spokesperson also has concerns over the process through which the large grant was dished out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government, despite saying it is bipartisan, never consulted with us on the sizable grant during an election period,\u201d Husic says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe size of the grant itself is so big that we are interested to know whether the tender processes and the proper government procurement processes were followed. That\u2019s why we\u2019re open to reviewing the grant should we win the federal election.<\/p>\n

“It’s not anything that’s necessarily negative about StartupAUS, it’s about the way the government has managed the process.”<\/p>\n

And he says this issue extends far beyond just this one grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at that sudden major grant to MassChallenge<\/a> while they were telling local accelerators they have to wait for program guidelines \u2013 that\u2019s not a good look whatsoever and that undermines the national innovation efforts,\u201d Husic says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese decisions are being seen as a way to score political mileage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A “squandered” opportunity<\/h3>\n

Husic has also questioned StartupAUS not releasing an updated Crossroads report – research into the Australian startup ecosystem and the problems it faces – before the July election, and its actions in the lead up to the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot believe that StartupAUS is not doing an updated Crossroads report before the election,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the time when groups like StartupAUS should be pressing all political parties for things that they think are important to support the startup ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people complained after the federal budget that startups were neglected. The reality is that you had an ideal opportunity to refocus attention on the things that matter to startups leading into the election and now that\u2019s been squandered.\u201d<\/p>\n

With six weeks of the election campaign still to come, Husic says Labor’s innovation policies will be focusing on the things the government is \u201csupposed to do\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation has been our big focus \u2013 we\u2019re encouraging more students to take up STEM study and we\u2019ve indicated that we will fast-track any moves to improve things such as equity crowdfunding,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be further announcements in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0StartupSmart on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and SoundCloud<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labor would consider stripping\u00a0StartupAUS of government funding if it wins the upcoming election, with the opposition’s\u00a0startup spokesperson questioning the lobby<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}