David Brett
The full state of science and research funding will not be
clear until the release of the Department of Industry and Science’s Science,
Research and Innovation Budget Tables (Tables) later this year. When the
figures from last year’s Tables were calculated as a share of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), the 2014–15 science and research spending was seen to be the
equal lowest since records started in 1978–79.[1] Looking at the current
budget, it appears that overall science and research funding, as a share of
GDP, is likely to be the lowest on record.
National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy and Sustainable Research Excellence
The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
(NCRIS) supports major research infrastructure and previously had its funding
tied to the passage of the higher education reforms. However, in March 2015 Minister
Pyne announced that funding for NCRIS would instead be found from offsets
within the Education and Training portfolio.[2] The 2015–16 Budget reveals
that funding from the Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) program has been
redirected to fund the extension of NCRIS into 2016–17, pending the completion
of a review of research infrastructure funding arrangements.[3]
The SRE program is intended to support the indirect costs of research - therefore
this funding redirection is essentially transferring money that was for researchers
and using it to support research equipment and infrastructure.[4]
This leaves a noticeable gap in the SRE funding profile, which raises questions
about how such a large variation in funding for the SRE program will be
managed.
|
Program
|
|
2014–15
Estimated actual
($M)
|
2015–16
Estimate
($M)
|
2016–17
Estimate
($M)
|
2017–18
Projection
($M)
|
2018–19
Projection
($M)
|
|
NCRIS
|
100.1
|
100.1
|
150.0
|
150.0
|
-
|
-
|
|
SRE
|
185.4
|
185.4
|
238.7
|
137.1
|
255.7
|
225.2
|
National Health and Medical
Research Council and the Medical Research Future Fund
Research grants administered by the National Health and
Medical Research Council (NHMRC) are the second largest area of spending for
the Australian Government in science and research. Funding for medical research
in 2014–15 is now estimated to be $74 million less than was expected in the
2014–15 Budget, with a further $10 million reduction of funding in 2015–16.[6]
NHMRC research grant funding is not expected to exceed the 2014–15 funding
level in any of the years in the forward estimates.
The anticipated establishment of the Medical Research Future
Fund (MRFF) is expected to add $10 million in support of medical research in
2015–16; this funding has been brought forward from earnings that would
otherwise not be available until 2016–17.[7] Legislation is expected
to be introduced to parliament to enable the MRFF to be established on 1 August
2015. Until the legislation is passed, it is unclear whether the MRFF will need
to establish its own grant assessment infrastructure or if it will provide funds
for the NHMRC to disburse; only in the latter case is the MRFF likely to be
able to provide medical research funding in 2015–16. If the MRFF is able to
provide funding in 2015–16 as specified in the Budget, it will only provide an
additional $22,000 for medical research once the reduction in NHMRC research
grants is factored in. The Treasurer’s claim of $400 million distributed from
the MRFF over the forward estimates is supported by the Budget papers ($417
million). However, if the revised 2014–15 funding level is used as a baseline,
the net medical research funding will be reduced to $349 million by cuts to
NHMRC grant funding, with most of the additional funding unavailable until
2018–19.[8]
|
Program
|
|
2014–15
Estimated actual
($M)
|
2015–16
Estimate
($M)
|
2016–17
Estimate
($M)
|
2017–18
Projection
($M)
|
2018–19
Projection
($M)
|
|
NHMRC Research Grants
|
930.1
|
855.8
|
845.8
|
834.4
|
832.3
|
842.9
|
|
Funding from the MRFF
|
0
|
0
|
10.0
|
53.0
|
130.0
|
224.0
|
Australian Research Council
Australian Research Council (ARC) grant funding in 2015–16
has been reduced by $86 million (9.8%) from 2014–15. There is a $35.6 million
reduction in funding for the ARC Discovery program, which funds Australian
Laureate Fellowships, Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards, Discovery
Indigenous, Discovery Projects and Future Fellowships. $50.4 million has been
cut from the ARC Linkage program, which supports ARC Centres of Excellence,
co-funded research centres, Industrial Transformation Research Hubs, Industrial
Transformation Training Centres, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and
Facilities, Linkage Learned Academies Special Projects, Linkage Projects and
Special Research Initiatives. Funding for both of these programs remains below
2014–15 levels over the period of the forward estimates.
|
Program
|
2014–15
Estimate
($M)[10]
|
2014–15
Estimated actual
($M)
|
2015–16
Estimate
($M)
|
2016–17
Estimate
($M)
|
2017–18
Projection
($M)
|
2018–19
Projection
($M)
|
|
ARC Discovery
|
549.9
|
549.9
|
514.2
|
488.8
|
515.2
|
517.5
|
|
ARC Linkage[11]
|
325.8
|
325.8
|
275.4
|
262.4
|
268.4
|
274.8
|
The Budget papers do reveal some additional funding is to be
provided, including:
-
$13 million to the Australian Synchrotron in 2016–17;
-
$49.1 million over the forward estimates to the Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation;
-
$9.4 million for Antarctic research in 2015–16; and
-
$15.3 million over the forward estimates for research into
tropical diseases.
However, the Cooperative Research Centres program will be
cut by a further $26.8 million over the forward estimates.
The Australian Academy of Science welcomed the extension of
NCRIS funding to 2016–17, the anticipated establishment of the MRFF, and
additional funding for the Australian Synchrotron, ANSTO, Antarctic and
tropical medical research, but was critical of the cuts to university block
grants and Cooperative Research Centres. It argued that, with the slowing of
the mining boom, it was appropriate to direct additional funds into science,
but that instead Australia’s future prosperity was at risk.[12]
Science & Technology Australia described the 2015–16
Budget as “a mixed budget for science”, welcoming the anticipated establishment
of the MRFF and the confirmation of the additional funding for NCRIS but
disappointed that the funding was found by redirecting it from the SRE program.
It described the cuts to the Cooperative Research Centres as “difficult to
understand” and the budget as having “mixed and confusing messages ... for
Australian science”. [13]
[1]. Australian
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Fact
check: Science, research and innovation spending cut to 'historic low', ABC
Fact Check, 7 October 2014.
[2]. D
Speers, ‘Interviews
with Education Minister Christopher Pyne MP and Senator Nick Xenophon’, PM
Agenda, Sky News, 16 March 2015.
[3]. Department
of Education and Training, National
Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), Department of
Education and Training website.
[4]. The
budget figures in this article have been taken from the following document
unless otherwise sourced: Australian Government, Portfolio
budget statements 2015–16: budget related paper no. 1.5: Education and Training
Portfolio.
[5]. Australian
Government, Portfolio
budget statements 2014–15: budget related paper no. 1.5: Education and Training
Portfolio, p. 81.
[6]. Australian
Government, Portfolio
budget statements 2014–15: budget related paper no. 1.10: Health Portfolio,
p. 426.
[7]. Australian
Government, Budget
strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 1: 2015–16, p. 5-26
[8]. J
Hockey (Treasurer), Budget
speech 2015–16.
[9]. Budget
paper no. 1: 2015–16, op. cit., p. 5-26.
[10]. Portfolio
budget statements 2014–15, Education and Training Portfolio, op. cit.,
p. 178
[11]. Includes
ARC Research Endowment special account
[12] Australian Academy of
Science, Federal
Budget 2015 – Deep science funding cuts on the horizon, media release,
12 May 2015.
[13] Science & Technology Australia,
Some
cuts, some lifelines in a mixed budget for science, media release, 12
May 2015
All online articles accessed May 2015.
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