Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If we recognised that process, then I am not sure why they are criticising it. If it is suggested, as was interjected by Senator Scullion, who is not in his seat, that it is a special case and the hendra virus should have been kept with that CRC, then that is utterly wrong. The research is continuing. I just demonstrated it. Senator Back nodded his head when I indicated the research is continuing now at the facility it should continue at. If you have a biosecurity CRC that goes into a tender for research without the support of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and Australian Customs—the border agency that assesses goods for import and export and the border agency managing biosecurity—then you would have to assume that it would be weakened. And, indeed, it must have been. It failed.

There has been another round where the CRC could have applied for funds, which was the 12th round, but they did not apply. One has to take the view that they were not confident in the strength of their own case if they were not prepared to look at their submission for the 11th round to see what failings they might have had and try to address them. They did not do that. To criticise the government over the CRC application, which failed and was subsequently not pursued by that organisation, is just playing politics, let’s be frank—