Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Tonight I would like to specifically commend the excellent work of the Australian Research Council and to highlight the importance of its mission in the strategic plan, which is to support excellence in research—building Australia’s research capacity, providing policy advice to government, conducting research evaluation and championing Australian research through promotion.

It is fair to say that government has a very important role to play in directing and funding research in Australia, but tonight I would like to speak a little more broadly about the importance of another excellent research organisation, the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust, based in Launceston, my home town. The Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust was established in 1992 by the local community and remains a non-profit organisation, independent of government. The founding vision was to create a world-class medical research institution in Northern Tasmania. Today the trust is a vibrant organisation with an annual turnover of more than $1 million, has built a quality research centre at the Launceston General Hospital and has successfully funded 72 worthwhile medical research projects. Its continuing goal is:

… to facilitate and fund quality medical research in order to provide inquiry and improvement in health related issues of relevance to the hospitals and peoples of our community—

particularly in Northern Tasmania but also for the benefit of the state and indeed the nation of Australia.

In terms of who the research trust is named after, Dr Clifford Craig was a surgeon, an administrator, a radiologist and a historian. He arrived in Launceston in April 1926 to take up his position with the Launceston General Hospital as Surgeon Superintendent. He was a graduate of Melbourne university. Dr Craig’s association with the Launceston General Hospital covered a period of some 35 years and, following his retirement, he accepted the position of Honorary Consultant Radiologist in addition to being a member of the board of management.

Senators might be interested to know that the immediate past president of the trust was Dr John Morris, a very highly regarded and outstanding citizen of Launceston and of Tasmania, and he is still on the board. He has also written an excellent publication highlighting the history of the research trust; it is very well regarded and he should be commended for that. The current president is Associate Professor Don McTaggart, and board members include Tom O’Meara, vice-chairman; Jill Dearing, secretary and treasurer; Geoff Arnott; and John Lord. Interestingly, Michael Ferguson is the current chief executive officer—of course, Michael Ferguson is the former federal Liberal member for Bass. He is doing a wonderful job leading that organisation as the administrator and as the CEO, and I congratulate him on his performance in supporting medical research in Northern Tasmania and across the state.

One of my good friends, Dr George Razay, who I just recently met up with again, does good research for the trust and works at the LGH. He is specifically concerned with Alzheimer’s and dementia research. Some other projects they are doing at the moment relate to kidney disease research and oesophageal cancer research. They had an excellent five-kilometre walk to raise funds for the research trust just some weeks ago in the Heritage Park in Launceston.

The Friends of Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust also do a wonderful job in raising funds for this important research institution based in Launceston. They have a wonderful group of volunteers who put a huge amount of effort into raising funds for research, and just a short time ago I had the honour of attending a lunch they held where I spoke about my recent trip to Kokoda in Papua New Guinea.

It is an honour to be able to stand in this place to commend the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust and emphasise the importance of medical research not only in Launceston in Tasmania but across the country. The strategic plan set out by the Australian Research Council in the document before us should be commended.

Question agreed to.