Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I want to particularly go to the government's decision to establish the Medical Research Future Fund. I do want to very clearly put on the record Labor's commitment to medical research and remind people of the investment that we made in many of the medical research facilities that the minister is now visiting. I refer to the government's intention to establish this fund. I refer to evidence provided by officials from the minister's department at Senate estimates on 2 June 2014 that the department became aware of the government's intention to establish the fund probably some time in April. Can the minister confirm that instructions to the Department of Health to establish this fund and notification to the department of the government's intention around this fund were given in April? And, if so, when in April—was it the first week or the last week? If the minister cannot recall the precise date, can the minister confirm that instructions were not given in the last week of April?

I also refer to evidence provided at Senate estimates that the Chief Scientist for Australia and the National Health and Medical Research Council were not consulted on the fund. Can the minister guarantee that they are now being consulted on the fund and that there will be the opportunity for broader consultation on the development of the fund beyond just those two?

I also refer specifically to the minister's statements around medical research funding and the money that he anticipates will be distributed for medical research out of this fund. Minister, can you guarantee that the government's intention is that the NHMRC grant and fellowship funding will continue to grow at its current rate—specifically, that there will be no reduction in NHMRC funding as the Medical Research Future Fund starts to also fund medical research?

Can the minister guarantee that all health and medical research will be supported through this fund, including research on preventative programs? The minister may be aware—as I am aware through a number of meetings I am having with people in the medical research community as well as in the health professional community—that there has been a disconnect between what was said on budget night in the health briefing to stakeholders and what the minister has subsequently said. There is a substantial level of anxiety and confusion about preventative health research, around translational research and around the elements of his medical research fund. I particularly note the important funding for prevention programs being provided following the government's decision to cut nearly $370 million from preventative health by walking away from the national partnership agreement on preventive health and the very important research work in prevention that the Australian National Preventive Health Agency was responsible for. I ask the minister to guarantee that continued level of funding for preventative health research.

Can the minister also guarantee that the fund will provide support for translational research? Can the minister advise whether the fund will provide any support for research that supports medical research, such as support for physicians and mathematicians, given the very substantial cuts that have been made to research funding and science funding in other areas outside of the health portfolio?

I also ask whether the fund will support the costs associated with conducting research at research institutes outside of hospitals. I know the minister will be aware of the issue around the administrative costs associated with research and I ask whether any consideration has been given to ensuring the infrastructure and administrative costs of supporting medical research are also resourced. I note again that the government has cut significant amounts of money out of the CSIRO, the Australian Research Council and the CRC programs, including six that are directly related to the health portfolio. Does the minister acknowledge that these cuts will have a significant impact on health and medical research?

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