Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

Centre Alliance supports the Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2019. However, I'd like to take this opportunity to express our increasing concern at what appears to be the politicisation of the awarding of academic grants.

In 2018, the then Minister for Education and Training, Minister Birmingham, intervened to block 11 humanities grants recommended by the Australian Research Council, often known as the ARC. Whilst I shared the minister's view at the time that some of the recommendations appeared to be somewhat interesting, we all know how important it is to take the politics out of the academic process and to safeguard the integrity of an independent academic process. It should not be up to politicians to judge the merits of the ARC's individual recommendations, especially when the government already sets the priority areas for nationally funded research.

This year, there has been a clear break from previous practice on how the grants are announced. It used to be that announcements were made all at once, whereas this year, for the first time, there has been a drip-feed to the media over a number of months. One can only assume that the purpose is to enhance the political benefit to the government by maximising the media coverage the grants receive. Quoting a piece in The Conversation by Professor Jodie Bradby on these embargoed announcements:

… a leaked internal email from the University of Queensland stated that it understands "the embargo is lifted by local MPs in conjunction with the minister of education", and that it is "waiting for its local MP" to make the awards public.

This is highly concerning, not only because it is politicising what should fundamentally be an academic process but because the embargoes are creating real-world consequences for our universities in attracting and retaining talent. For example, I'm aware of several universities that have successfully received grants but are unable to advertise for positions—positions they'll need to fill next year—because they are under embargo for political reasons. Those who understand academic recruitment understand that it works to a tight timetable with tight deadlines, and if you miss the deadlines you lose the talent you have or you miss the cycle on attracting the talent you need to deliver on a federally funded grant.

Academic recruitment is an international affair and does not turn on a dime to suit the newfound political proclivities of the current government. Again, I quote the professor at length:

Politics aside, the delay and uncertainty is bad news for researchers.

Applications for next year's funding round have already opened, and researchers who were unsuccessful this year still don't have any feedback on their applications. This feedback is often a crucial tool for improving an application to make it more likely to succeed.

Successful applicants will already know they are successful—but they can't sign funding agreements with the ARC and actually get on with the research until all the grants have been announced. No one knows when that announcement will happen, and it could mean some researchers are left without income early next year.

It could also mean Australia loses out as the top talent takes positions overseas rather than waiting.

So, even if it does not wish to abandon the limited political benefit of several local media releases, the government must urgently return to a timely schedule for announcing the awarding of ARC grants, because it is undermining the efficacy of our national research program—a program that we so desperately need to operate efficiently and effectively in order to maintain our country's competitive edge and create the technological innovation that will underpin the prosperity of current and future Australians.

For these reasons, I'm supportive of clause 51A(1) of the member for Melbourne's proposed consideration in detail amendment, although I would seek tabling of the determinations in parliament rather than require public announcements and website publication. However, whilst I recognise its importance, Centre Alliance does not want to frustrate a minister's ability to make announcements that they see fit to make regarding what is ultimately public expenditure for which the minister is responsible. For this reason, Centre Alliance will not be supporting the amendment proposed by the member for Melbourne in this place, although we reserve our final position in the Senate. However, we would be minded to support amendments that address the issue of timeliness in making ARC determinations publicly known. I won't take any more of the House's time, and I commend this bill to the House.

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