AusBiotech welcomes Budget moves but cautions on unintended consequences – Biotech Dispatch

AusBiotech says the 2026-27 Federal Budget sends strong signals that the Government has listened to its advocacy, but the peak life sciences body is urging careful scrutiny of the tax changes to understand their true impact.
The organisation welcomed moves to commence implementation of Ambitious Australia, including the establishment of the National Resilience and Science Council, and praised increased funding through the Medical Research Future Fund and continued support for the National One Stop Shop for clinical trials.
The organisation said Ambitious Australia could unlock greater economic and societal impact from investment in homegrown innovation and that accessing the Medical Research Future Fund’s full potential will help strengthen Australia’s health and medical research ecosystem and support continued innovation and translation.
“Ambitious Australia has the potential to strengthen Australia’s RD&I system and unlock greater economic resilience and societal impact from national investment in innovation, including health and medical life sciences. Fully leveraging the Medical Research Future Fund is also critical to supporting the sector’s growth and impact,” said AusBiotech CEO, Rebekah Cassidy.
At the same time, AusBiotech cautioned that changes to the Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&DTI) and Capital Gains Tax require detailed testing to avoid unintended harms.
While noting that measures to adjust the R&DTI cap and tax settings for start-ups “show promise to assist with encouraging industry investment,” AusBiotech said, “considered analysis is required of the total tax package to ensure it encourages and not unintentionally thwarts genuine Research and Development (R&D).” It added that “changes to CGT could disincentive investment in true innovation, and we welcome the Government’s commitment to consultation with the sector on this.”
AusBiotech also raised concerns about program cuts for commercialisation support, saying, “We were disappointed with the changes to the Australian Economic Accelerator (AEA) and Industry Growth Program (IGP), with the AEA being discontinued and the IGP receiving further funding cuts. Both programs play an important role in supporting startups and SMEs with commercialising research, including in the medical science and research sector.”
The organisation said it will convene members for further discussion after reviewing the budget details. “We will be convening a meeting with our members on Friday after we have reviewed the detail of the Budget, and will have more to say on this point.”
Ms Cassidy emphasised the sector’s scale and importance. “Life sciences is a significant industry which makes an invaluable contribution to the economy and can’t be ignored – it supports 350,000 jobs and has doubled in size since 2017.” She added that the industry is “crucial to the health and wellbeing of all Australians, with groundbreaking research and technology leading to new medical devices and diagnostics, vaccines and medicines. Put simply, life sciences save lives.”
“No Budget is perfect, while some elements of this Budget take steps towards good, more analysis is required to ensure the outcomes help rather than hinder the growth of Australia’s life sciences industry,” she said.
“It is also crucial to the health and well-being of all Australians, with groundbreaking research and technology leading to new medical devices and diagnostics, vaccines and medicines. Put simply, life sciences save lives.”
“We look forward to continuing to partner with the Government to pursue important industry reforms which prioritise economic growth and positive health outcomes, and ensure Australia remains globally competitive in life sciences,” she added.
©2026 DailyDispatch Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

source