It was with a final check of his Apple watch that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull unleashed upon the world... the "Ideas Boom".
The "Ideas Boom" is the phrase used to describe Turnbull's huge new $1.1 billion innovation program which is all about encouraging a new start-up culture and restoring millions of dollars in cut science and technology funding.
Among a huge raft of things, it involves:
- A new class of Entrepreneurs Visas to attract people to Australia.
- $459 million for science funding, including money to encourage science and maths education.
- Big tax breaks for investors to put money into Aussie start-ups.
- $200 million given to the CSIRO for commercial/start-up opportunities.
But really the star of the show was Turnbull's new focus on the so-called "Ideas Boom".
Turnbull declared "this is the century of ideas" and that (the heavily focus-grouped) "Ideas Boom" would replace the "Mining Boom" as the driver of Australia's economic growth.
There was also a shiny new website topped with the PM's highly optimistic, somewhat ridiculous, seemingly Drake-inspired mantra: "There's never been a more exciting time to be Australian".
The buzzy phrases were prominently displayed all over the place... like the backdrop with three, three-word slogans in a row.
Three-lines of three-word slogans #ideasboom
It was a bit of a joke.
And the continued use of the phrase "incentivising"...
Which as you can see from Google history, was a verb totally made up sometime in the last 15 years.
Perhaps one of the more enjoyable moments was that the "Ideas Boom" launch at CSIRO HQ - Australia's ground zero of high-tech and science - could not be beamed live on the ABC.
Don't worry Labor were claiming most of these policies were their ideas after all.
As Oscar Wilde said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Turnbull copies Labor on Innovation https://t.co/qPe5QLedsl via @HuffPostAU
Labor's parliamentary secretary for innovation Ed Husic even wrote an op-ed in the Guardian Australia.
Where he straight-up admitted in the first sentences that the Australian public were going to be assaulted with buzzwords.
But perhaps the best marketing-bullshit moment of the launch was the creation of an @IdeasBoomAu Twitter account.
Whose first two tweets were used to figure out how @-replies worked.
Maybe prophetically Turnbull held his hands open at the press conference and said mistakes would happen.
"We might make mistakes and the public will accept that rather than being too timid about making necessary changes to drive our economy," he said.
There is no doubt, there's never been a better time to be an Australian marketer.
