The new word Malcolm Turnbull will trot out at every chance
ANALYSIS
It's one of the most unexpected comebacks in recent political history.
The Turnbull government has rehabilitated the word "innovation" and can now use it again in polite policy company.
"What we are talking about this morning is Australian jobs and Australian innovation and Australian technology," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Monday.
Reinstated to the Turnbull vocabulary, it will compete directly with Labor's preferred term - cost of living - in the policy battle which could decide the coming federal election.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten today is expected to emphasise Labor's commitment to protecting household budgets in an address to the National Press Club.
Labor will underline the debates around thousands of kitchen tables and pledge to deliver measures for families, arguing it has been proved right with its policies on housing and Medicare.
Almost immediately this approach will be challenged.
Today, Bill Ferris, chairman of government body Innovation and Science Australia, which has some of the nation's brightest minds on its board, is expected to release a major innovation statement.
"Innovation", along with "agile", was once a favourite of PM Malcolm Turnbull.
However, in close-quarters political battle, such as during the 2016 election, it took on a meaning which roused hostility among some voters.
Innovation came to mean losing your job to technology and anybody who promoted it was seen as an enemy, particularly by unskilled labour.
It was condemned an empty buzzword and sent to the back of the political lexicon.
But it soon will again be a respectable term as the Government argues innovation is the means to creating and securing jobs as well as reviving manufacturing.
That was one of the messages sent out by Mr Turnbull when he announced on Monday the Government's boosted support for defence industries as major export sources.
He stressed "Australian innovation and Australian technology" were secondary to the aim of Australian jobs.
He said: "Ensuring that the brilliance of the men and women in this (Thales) building and many others like it around Australia results in more exports of our defence industry products, of our defence industry technology and delivers more jobs, more 21st century advanced manufacturing, advanced technology jobs, here in Australia."
Shadow defence minister Richard Marles was quick to remind voters of the unpleasant meaning of innovation.
He said in reply to the Prime Minister: "Remember it was under this Government that we saw the loss of the Australian car manufacturing sector."
The start of the next election campaign will be obvious this week.
