Qld steps up east-coast biotech powerhouse campaign

A proposal by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to join biotechnology forces with Victoria and NSW is receiving a positive response from NSW Premier Bob Carr.

Beattie's proposal calls for Australian biotechnology to present a united marketing front at the international level.

It also suggests the three states could reach a memorandum of understanding enabling them to focus on individual areas of advantage and avoid duplication of infrastructure.

Beattie's suggestions, large in concept but short on specifics, were contained in November letters sent to Carr and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks.

They are the latest shots in an ongoing campaign by Beattie for cooperation between the leading biotech states to leverage their combined strengths on international markets.

According a spokesman for Beattie, the NSW Premier sent a December 16 reply which agreed in principle with the initiative, however no formal response from Bracks has yet arrived.

But a spokesman for Victorian Minister of Innovation, John Brumby, said that Beattie's plan was welcomed, and heralded a new era in interstate co-operation, which he hoped would extend outside the biotech sector.

Brumby's spokesperson noted that NSW and Victoria already work together to prevent bidding wars over investments and financial incentives for companies to locate in specific areas.

If agreement in principle is reached by the three premiers, the next step in the process would be meetings between senior officers of each government, perhaps at the director-general level, to develop a more detailed memo of understanding on the issue, Beattie's spokesman suggested.

-- Additional reporting by Melissa Trudinger in Melbourne