Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too speak in support of the Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2010. This bill will index the funding of the Australian Research Council and provide specific funds for the Super Science Fellowships Scheme and for the research in bionic vision science and technology initiative. There is also a continuation of funding for the National ICT Australia. This bill will increase funding to the Australian Research Council by $889.6 million over four years altering the three-year existing funding figures and extending the forward estimate period out to 2013.

The Rudd government has made one of its key priorities to retain and attract the best researchers in the world to work on cutting-edge and innovative research here in Australia. Australia’s future—and, indeed, its future prosperity—is in many ways dependent upon our encouraging of local research and the connections with businesses, so that research translates into products and puts Australia in front of the rest of the world.

As a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation, which inquired into many of the issues covered in this bill in a report which was published in 2008 entitled Building Australia’s research capacity, I am pleased to note that many of the recommendations we made at that time are actually now being put in place. The committee’s inquiry into research training and research workforce issues in Australian universities received 106 submissions and held 13 public hearings in cities around Australia. The committee saw firsthand some excellent research projects being undertaken across the country, but we also heard of the problems facing researchers and universities, especially with regard to funding. Many of the submissions we received focused on the issues of retaining and attracting the brightest and the best researchers and on investing in new, innovative areas and supporting universities in building their research capacity. The final report made 38 recommendations on how Australia can build its research capacity, and this bill provides the funding that continues to deliver on a number of those initiatives.

We only need to look at the development of the bionic ear as an example of the impact of research that is conducted in Australia. It has been developed into a leading-edge product that is in demand world wide. The bionic ear was developed in the late 1960s by Australian scientist Professor Graeme Clark and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne. Since that time, more than 80,000 severely deaf or profoundly deaf people in 100 countries have received a cochlear implant. Cochlear is now an ASX listed company that last year sold 18,553 cochlear implants, had a total revenue of $694 million and employed 1,888 people world wide. Over the last 10 years, Cochlear has earned $3.9 billion in revenue. This is a success story of government-supported research leading to a breakthrough that developed into a great Australian company.

The Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2010 will not only deliver indexation of current funding to the Australian Research Council but also provide additional funds for three key projects in Australian research. This bill will provide funding for the research in the Bionic Vision Science and Technology Initiative, a Rudd Labor government initiative to develop the bionic eye. Inventing a bionic eye was one of the key ideas that came out of the Australia 2020 Summit, held in 2008. The Rudd government is now delivering on the promise to fund this research and will provide $50 million over four years to key research groups. As I have mentioned, the bionic ear was a truly great Australian innovation. With this $50 million investment by the Rudd Labor government, the prospects of Australian researchers making a breakthrough and being able to develop a bionic eye have been greatly enhanced.

The Australian Research Council received a number of applications to access the $50 million fund in relation to the bionic eye. This independent statutory body has made its decision on where the investments will be directed. Bionic Vision Australia, a consortium including the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, the Bionic Ear Institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia and NICTA, are to receive $42 million in funding. The Bionic Ear Institute is a non-profit research organisation. It was established in 1983 to continue the innovative research on the bionic ear, invented, as I said before, by Professor Graeme Clark. Professor Graeme Clark is the director of this institute. It is exciting to see the continuation of the work of the Bionic Ear Institute and Professor Graeme Clark with the new goal of developing a bionic eye.

With the ambition to deliver a bionic eye, Bionic Vision Australia will use a video camera fixed to a patient’s glasses to capture images which will then be translated into electrical impulses that stimulate electrodes inserted into the retina. The resulting electrical impulses stimulate the same area of the retina usually activated by visual cues. Over time, the patient will learn to interpret these nerve signals as useful vision.

According to the researchers, the first human implant is likely to occur in 2013 and to take place at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, a hospital well known to people in Melbourne as a first-rate specialist hospital. I looked it up. It has been operating since 1863. If you are from Melbourne, you would normally call it ‘the Eye and Ear’. It also undertakes half of Victoria’s public general eye surgery, up to 90 per cent of its specialised surgery and almost all of Victoria’s public cochlea implant surgery.

Of the $50 million funding, the remaining $8 million will go to a Monash University led team, bringing together experts from engineering and computer sciences, as well as medical researchers from their department of physiology and the Alfred Hospital. Researchers at the Monash University led team are aiming for a human trial followed by a commercial prototype within four years.

Both of these projects have set exciting goals for their research. I commend their projects to the House in the knowledge that all sides of the House will welcome any new discovery in this area. A bionic eye will make a different to many Australians and people around the world, potentially bringing sight to those who do not have it and, without doubt, changing their quality of life. I am proud to be part of a government that has the vision to fund such projects and invest in new and innovative ideas. This $50 million investment will increase the chances of delivering a bionic eye with such high resolution that it does more than simply differentiate between shadows and large objects. It is almost three decades now since a team of Australian scientists developed the bionic ear and Australia is already a global leader in bionics. This new investment will reinforce Australia’s leadership in one of the most demanding and inspiring fields of scientific research.

The Rudd Labor government, since being elected in 2007, has maintained a long-term view of research. Many of the submissions to the inquiry into research training and research workforce issues in Australian universities raised the issue of a lack of career path for researchers. We heard from the researchers and research students who faced recurring periods of funding uncertainty and a lack of funding for their research. Not every application for research funding is successful. Some of those who missed out found employment outside the sector or lost interest in continuing to be researchers.

The Rudd government in its previous budgets has acted to help retain midlevel and senior level researchers. This investment in the retention of midlevel and senior researchers by the Rudd government was applauded by many of the universities making submissions to the inquiry into research training and research workforce issues in universities. The Curtin University of Technology Western Australia in their submission to the inquiry welcomed the new and exciting initiatives such as the Future Fellowships and the existing ARC Fellowships. They applauded these saying that they will assist in attracting and retaining midcareer and senior researchers.

The Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2010 will provide funding for a new set of doctoral fellowships specifically designed to provide opportunities for early career researchers. These are called Super Science Fellowships. The Super Science Fellowships scheme is an integral part of the $1.1 billion Super Science Initiative announced in the 2009 budget. The aim of Super Science Fellowships is to attract and retain outstanding early career researchers in three key areas: space and astronomy, marine and climate, and future industries. The Super Science Fellowships will offer a three-year fellowship, funded for up to $72,500 a year, plus 28 per cent of on-costs, to 100 outstanding Australian and international early career researchers. Fifty of those are to commence in 2010 and another 50 next year in 2011.

The Super Science Initiative is about nurturing the talented individuals who will perform research. Ensuring that early career researchers have access to fellowships can play a crucial role in retaining the best local researchers and enabling them to continue their work. The Super Science Fellowships initiative is the latest Rudd government project to support local researchers and adds to the previously announced and fully funded Australian Laureate Fellowships for established researchers and Future Fellowships for researchers in midcareer.

The Australian Laureate Fellowships provides opportunities to researchers at the peak of their careers. Australian Laureate Fellows, commencing in 2010, will receive a salary supplement from the ARC of around $100,000 plus 28 per cent of on-costs with a standard tenure of five years. In addition to a salary supplement and salary related on-costs support, the ARC may also provide an Australian Laureate Fellows with project funding of up to $300,000 per annum, along with additional amounts to appoint up to two postdoctoral research associates and up to two postgraduate researchers. The Rudd Labor government has committed $239 million to be allocated over five years to fund the Australian Laureate Fellowships.

The government’s commitment to supporting research also covers the Future Fellowships, which provide funding for midlevel researchers. The Future Fellowships scheme has funding for the 1,000 four-year fellowships over five years. Many highly qualified midcareer researchers have found in the past that they have few options to pursue their work locally and have had to go overseas to further their careers. The Future Fellowships scheme is designed to attract and retain these highly skilled researchers so that they can continue their research in Australia.

The third element to the Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2010 is the extension of funding for National ICT Australia. National Information and Communication Technology Australia, better known as NICTA, is an independent company with 700 staff. This bill provides for a $185.5 million four-year funding extension for NICTA, beginning in 2011-12. This was announced in the 2009-10 budget. NICTA is the largest information and communication technology research organisation in Australia and it also receives funding from the Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland and ACT governments. As well as undertaking user-inspired basic research, it also plays a vital part in research training and commercialising research outcomes through spin-out companies and technology licensing. For example, NICTA’s first spin-out company, Audinate, a leading developer of digital media networking solutions, recently secured $4 million in additional funding from the private sector. Audinate’s innovative networking technology reduces cost by eliminating the need for expensive, bulky, copper analog wires. One CAT5 ethernet cable can replace 500 analog connectors, thereby eliminating massive amounts of cabling from large audiovisual installations. Audinate revolutionises the way that audiovisual systems are connected to by transporting high-quality media over standard IT networks. It is in use across the world for live sound, recording and broadcast applications. I do know a bit about CAT5 cabling. It is something I did for many years prior to coming to this place. At that time it was only used for connecting PCs over what now seem to be very slow networks.

The type of technology that can be put in place and use existing cabling saves businesses big dollars, meaning they do not have to rip out what was put in only a few years ago. That is a really smart way of looking at things. This is yet another example of the importance of funding Australian research and highlights the importance of the commercialisation of research. The Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2010 demonstrates the Rudd Labor government’s commitment to fostering research and excellence, along with building a stronger and more diverse research community. I commend the bill to the House.

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