Beattie announces $473m funding boost

Queensland's Beattie Government has announced AUD$473 million in new funding for the second phase of its Smart State Strategy.

Premier Peter Beattie announced the funding would include $350.8 million in recurrent spending, and $121.7 million in capital.

Last week, the Premier announced the government would invest $7 million towards a scale-up manufacturing facility for the state's biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

He also announced a $1.4 funding commitment to a new biotechnology commercial pipeline to help biotech companies attract venture capital and market their products overseas.

More than $200 million will be delivered over the next four years to build new research infrastructure and support innovation via three newly created funds:

• a $128 million innovation building fund
• a $12 million innovation skills fund, to attract and retain leading interstate and international researchers and PhD students to Queensland
• A $60 million innovation projects fund, to support R&D and innovation, matching institutional investment dollar for dollar

• The government also announced it will add $20 million to the fourth and final round of the Smart State Research Facilities fund, and establish a new Golden Casket Medical Research Foundation, in conjunction with the Golden Casket Lottery Corporation.

  The research foundation will apply an estimated $1.3 million in interest from $23 million in unclaimed Golden Casket and Powerball lottery wins, to health and medical research.

  Other Smart State biotechnology initiatives include $4 million for the aquaculture industry and $1 million for biotechnology research to control cane toads.