Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Boyce for her question. The Australian government is absolutely committed to the long-term sustainability of Australia's research capacity and, in particular, to building a world-class tertiary education and research sector as one of the five pillars of a stronger, more productive and prosperous Australia. Through the education portfolio alone, we are investing $11 billion over the forward estimates to enable Australian researchers to discover and deliver outcomes that benefit the whole nation. This is in addition to the establishment of the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund, the largest medical research fund of its kind in the world. We have committed $150 billion in 2015-16 to support the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, or NCRIS, projects, and we will review research provision and requirements in line with the recommendations of the Commission of Audit, which said:

Quality research infrastructure is a critical component of Australia’s research and development system …

Through this budget, we have committed to the ARC Future Fellowships scheme on an ongoing basis and will invest an additional $139.5 million to provide 100 new four-year Future Fellowships over the next four years. We have committed $127 million of funding, through the ARC, to key priorities—

Senator Kim Carr interjecting—