In general, the Australian government's attempts to foster innovation have simply been disasters, the main reason being that they take two approaches — creating funds (which simply lead to feeding frenzies by people who know how to get grants) and tax incentives (which simply encourage companies to create tax shelters). In general, the US VC scene thrive precisely because the government does virtually nothing in this space.
Don't expect or even hope for the Australian government to help anything.
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I dislike politicians as much as the next person, but in actual fact the Commonwealth has showered a lot of money and attention on venture capital.
They have an entire agency devoted to commercialisation and so forth -- Innovation Australia[1].
The problem is that despite the flowery language, it still moves, quacks and shits like a government department[2].
[1] http://www.innovation.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx [2] http://chester.id.au/2012/04/05/on-communicating-with-the-co...
In general, the Australian government's attempts to foster innovation have simply been disasters, the main reason being that they take two approaches — creating funds (which simply lead to feeding frenzies by people who know how to get grants) and tax incentives (which simply encourage companies to create tax shelters). In general, the US VC scene thrive precisely because the government does virtually nothing in this space.
Don't expect or even hope for the Australian government to help anything.