The Turnbull Government is providing $5.2 million to support researchers and small and medium start-up businesses to deliver innovative health and medical breakthroughs, and better health outcomes for Australians.

For many years, Australia has had an enviable international reputation for delivering ground-breaking health and medical research outcomes that make a real difference to the lives of people in Australia and around the world.

Today I saw first-hand the brilliant collaborative work of Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners and I’m delighted to announce it has been accredited by the National Health and Medical Research Council as a new Advanced Health Research and Translation Centre.

These centres are places that inspire new research, clinical care and educational collaborations that deliver better health outcomes for Australians. Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners is a great example of this.

It is a collaboration between ten world-class hospital and health services, research institutes and universities, bringing together excellence in research, clinical care and education. 

Together, these partners will take research knowledge out of the lab and deliver tangible differences in healthcare and improved wellbeing for Australians.

It is at the Translational Research Institute, a founding partner of Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners, where 2006 Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer is working on immunotherapy for head and neck cancer; and Professor Ranjeny Thomas also has clinical trials underway on diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

As an accredited Advanced Health Research and Translation Centre, Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners will receive $225,000 funding from the Medical Research Future Fund.

I’m also pleased to announce today that $5 million from the Medical Research Future Fund will be used to fund a new Biotech Horizons program to boost Australia's ability to move cutting edge ideas and breakthrough discoveries towards proof-of-concept.

Turning great research into a commercial success can be incredibly challenging, particularly for health and medical products of research.

Often a lack of funding can mean great discoveries don’t reach the proof-of-concept stage – the first step towards clinical trials and commercialisation.

We don’t want great medical discoveries to remain stuck in the lab and never actually benefit patients. 

That’s why we’re investing to help break down the barriers facing Australian health and medical innovations and improve their chances of success, both here and overseas.

This program could soon result in new and marketable innovations in 3D anatomical printing and precision medicine, all of which will benefit the health of Australians.

And we’re also making it easier for new ventures to navigate the regulatory red tape and bring their product to market.

To ensure safety, efficacy and quality of medicines and medical devices, companies need to meet many different requirements and regulations, both at federal and state level. This can often be complex and confusing.

So today we’re launching SME Assist – a new service run by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to provide free, practical and useful online resources that answer many of the basic questions often asked of the TGA.

There will be phone and email support from a dedicated team to help people with specific questions or more complex queries.

SME Assist will help many of the small and medium size enterprises at the Translational Research Institute.

Workshops and webinars will also be available from August and are expected to help more than 300 small and medium sized businesses a year to understand what they need to do and streamline their journey.