We will build on the differences in our economic base to leapfrog ahead of our Southern cousins to take our strengths to the world. To do this, Queensland as the Smart State will build on our strengths in food and fibre, medical research and resource based industries to give us the springboard to the future. This has not happened by accident. This government is committed to an activist approach to the future - by creating opportunities and ensuring that the benefits are spread through the community. Our vision is to ally our resources with innovative activities providing greatest dividends for the community.
Biotechnology is the perfect example.
This is a recognition of the fact that strategic research is the driver of knowledge-based industries and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Biotechnology industries. We are entering a new millennium in which the innermost secrets of life will be revealed in what will amount to a user's manual for scientists. The wildest dream of the alchemists who preceded modern scientists was to transmute base metal into silver or gold. They could never have contemplated what we are about to achieve. Scientists are unlocking the secrets of life so that we can use this priceless information through biotechnology to improve our quality of life and the lives of our children.