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

Senator Back, in the last three days you have asked me the same question about the process of Biosecurity CRC funding. The CRC applied for refunding for the 11th round. It was one of the 10 out of 24 that did not make it through to the second stage of applications. It was rejected after careful assessment of the application by an independent CRC review committee. The independent reviewers were not convinced that the CRC would achieve the proposed outcomes necessary to address biosecurity threats such as the Hendra or the H1N1 viruses.

The Biosecurity CRC was advised on 28 April that it would not be progressing to stage 2. In May I announced the CRC program would move from biennial to annual rounds. This meant that the Biosecurity CRC and other CRCs that did not go on to stage 2 of the process would not have to wait two years to reapply. In fact, I opened a new selection around on 26 May, with applications closing on 14 August. I amended the guidelines to allow the CRC committee to provide feedback to the CRCs that made it to interview before the 11th round was completed. The CRC committee chair provided written advice back to the CRC on 26 June this year and expanded verbally on that feedback on 6 July. The committee’s feedback to the CRC noted that while that included many key players it did not include some logical end users such as AQIS and Customs. It also noted the Biosecurity CRC proposal including a large amount of tied cash— (Time expired)