Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the Australian Research Council Amendment (Review Response) Bill 2023. Research is such an important part of our modern society, contributing to our quality of life and our way of life. Imagine our industrial sector without research into product development. Imagine agriculture without research into cropping techniques, the food industry, the wine industry, the defence industry, modern manufacturing and social services. Research can make our lives better. It can make our economy better. It's a fundamental tool driving our modern society, and it can be a competitive advantage against other countries.

The Australian Research Council, or the ARC, was established in 2001 out of previous Commonwealth government grant schemes. Its purpose is to grow knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the Australian community through funding the highest quality research; assessing the quality, engagement and impact of research; and providing advice on research matters. The ARC supports the highest quality fundamental and applied research and research training, and it encourages national competition across all disciplines outside of clinical and other medical research. It is a central pillar in Australia's research landscape, administering the National Competitive Grants Program, the NCGP, and assessing the quality, engagement and impact of the research.

The ARC safeguards research integrity and provides advice and support to the Australian government on research matters. It also facilitates partnerships between researchers, industry, government, community organisations and the international community. It provides research funding on a competitive grants basis to individuals, research teams and large-scale centres through two broad arms: the Discovery Program, which supports individuals and small teams, and the Linkage Program, which creates links between universities, industry and other partners. It also delivers Excellence in Research for Australia, which assesses research quality within Australia's higher education institutions. ERA provides a national stocktake, by research discipline, against international benchmarks and it administers engagement and impact assessment, which evaluates the engagement of researchers with end users and shows how universities are translating their research into economic, social, environmental, cultural and other public good. The ARC will invest over $895 million in research in 2023-24 to the most dynamic researchers in Australia, a significant component of Australia's investment in research and development.

I recently opened the ARC Training Centre for Biofilm Research and Innovation at Flinders University, in Adelaide. This is an excellent example of the type of research and industry collaboration that the ARC encourages, with five universities and 11 industry partners involved in the research on biofouling. Biofouling is when organisms—from single-cell organisms through algae to barnacles—attach themselves to submerged parts of a vessel or equipment. Once biofilms are established, they are almost impossible to eradicate, impacting a ship's hull, drag and manoeuvrability, reducing energy efficiency of vessels and increasing fuel consumption. The ARC biofilm training centre will train, mentor and foster close partnerships between highly qualified professionals and engineers in an interdisciplinary model, to find innovative biofouling control solutions. It is expected to attract 14 PhD students, 40 researchers, four research fellows and six research assistants. Of course, an important part of research is research translation—application to real-world processes. Among the most significant outcomes will be a generation of industry-focused researchers critical for growing Australia's defence industry capability, which will make Australia a world leader in sustainment of maritime platforms and maintenance.

This is just one example of the sort of research the ARC supports. Other recent research centres around the country include topics as diverse as those of the ARC Training Centre for Optimal Ageing, the ARC Research Hub in Intelligent Robotic Systems for Real-Time Asset Management and the ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing with 2D Materials. Topics of smaller grants have included biases embedded in leadership selection processes that keep the glass ceiling intact; how extreme weather events are affecting Australians' residential choices; infrastructure planning, disaster management and strengthening the Australian community's resilience; and creating a greater awareness of disability and increasing the capacity to combat ableism and discrimination for emerging disabled writers. ARC grants are a prestigious and effective way for the federal government to fund a diverse range of research outcomes, including partnerships with industry and, importantly, research translation. Ultimately, it aims to make a better Australia.

The ARC Act has not been reviewed since it was established in 2001 and does not reflect the range of functions now being undertaken or provide the framework required to support the evolution of the agency. In August 2022 the Minister for Education appointed Professor Margaret Sheil AO, Professor Susan Dodds and Professor Mark Hutchinson to conduct the first comprehensive review of the ARC Act. The ARC review's final report was released in April 2023. The Australian government announced its response to the ARC review recommendations in August 2023 and agreed, or agreed in principle, to all 10 recommendations to enhance the ARC's role, purpose, oversight and budgetary arrangements so that it may continue to best support Australia's dynamic research landscape.

The bill has strong support from the sector, which was also strongly supportive of the ARC review final report and the government's response. The purpose of the Australian Research Council Amendment (Review Response) Bill 2023 is to amend the ARC Act to enhance the ARC's role, to better support Australia's dynamic research landscape. The bill refreshes the ARC's enabling legislation, providing a renewed focus on the integrity of decision-making processes and the outcomes from publicly funded research. A modernised role of the ARC will be reflected in the objects of the ARC Act so that it will clearly define the important role and place the ARC has in supporting Australia's research community and landscape, as opposed to the current legislation that only highlights grants processing.

An Australian Research Council board, appointed by the minister, will be established as the accountable authority of the ARC, enabling the independence and integrity of the agency and its decision-making processes and providing clear and empowered governance over the ARC. The board's functions will be to appoint the chief executive officer, consistent with policy for the meritorious appointment of statutory officeholders; to establish and appoint members to board committees, including the College of Experts; to approve funding for research projects; and to provide advice to the government on ARC's policies, priorities and strategies. Importantly, the board will approve research grants under the National Competitive Grants Program. This is one of the critical changes recommended by the ARC review. Under the existing act, these decisions are made by the minister. Over time this has allowed for political interference to seep into what should be an independent, peer reviewed process aimed at expanding our nation's knowledge base. The membership of the board will reflect the diversity of the general community. It will include persons with professional credibility and significant standing in one or more fields of research or in the management of research, an Indigenous person and a person who represents regional, rural and remote Australians.

The bill intends that an annual appropriation replace special appropriation arrangements for the ARC's administered funding, consistent with recommendation from the ARC review for a more durable and flexible arrangement. Indexation based on the consumer price index will be applied as part of the annual appropriation on 1 July each financial year. The Minister for Finance has also agreed to an indexation floor to protect against CPI fluctuations below zero per cent that is consistent with the arrangements in sections 198.10(1) and 198.10(2) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

The minister will retain the right to direct the ARC not to fund or to terminate funding for research grants, based on national security concerns, including those identified by the National Intelligence Community agencies. If the minister exercises the termination power, the minister may also require repayment of an amount of funding, if appropriate. If the minister intervenes to not fund or to terminate a grant, the minister will table a statement in each house of the parliament within 15 sitting days of a decision detailing the day on which the minister made the decision and a description of the research program to which the decision relates. The minister will also report the exercise of the national security powers to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and offer a private briefing to the committee. The ARC annual report, prepared by the board, will also specify the number of times the powers have been exercised by the minister.

The role of the ARC is an important one to keep Australia at the forefront of research in scientific, social and industrial knowledge, and it is important that it remains fit for purpose. This bill supports that aim, and I commend the bill to the House.

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