Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Quite correct, Mr Acting Deputy President. I have no doubt that Senator Mason would recall the current interim Leader of the Opposition’s attitudes when he was the minister for education. It was Dr Nelson who vetoed 10 discovery grants that had gone through a whole independent peer review process through the Australian Research Council. When one particular PhD student, Sharon Andrews, made an FOI application to get the details of these vetoed projects, the former government fought right up to the High Court. And they lost. They want accountability. But in government the attitude of the Liberal Party was draconian and authoritarian. They attempted to suppress, through tacit intimidation or downright threats, academics who took a different view to that of the government.

If Senator Mason is having trouble with his memory on this point, the then chair of the ARC, Tim Beasley—who was the AWB chair, too—advised his close friend the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, and the public that the academics should not get their knickers in a knot about the level of repression that occurred under the previous government.