Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Reynolds for her question and for her continued interest in the university sector and research. I particularly note her involvement as one of the convenors of the Parliamentary Alliance for Research and Innovation, along with Senator Dio Wang. I believe that tomorrow they will be hosting an exciting event for members and senators with the chief scientists of Israel, which I would encourage many of you to get along to.

In relation to Senator Reynolds's question, over the forward estimates the government has committed some $10.7 billion to research in a number of areas. We will be spending some $9.7 billion across government, in 2015-16, on science, research and innovation. As part of our Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda we have outlined the strategy to improve Australia's economic performance, through better translation of research into commercial outcomes, which will be enhanced upon with the release of the innovation strategy later this year. I am proud that our government is investing more than $3 billion over four years in the highest quality research, leading to the discovery of new ideas and knowledge, through the Australian Research Council, and I note and thank the Senate for the passage immediately prior to Senate of the ARC funding caps legislation, thereby providing certainty to the ARC over the next couple of years.

There are some incredibly exciting proposals that the ARC has supported, such as Professor Mark Kendall, an inaugural ARC Future Fellow at the University of Queensland. I am sure children around the country would be delighted to know he is pioneering needle-free immunisation technology that promises to eliminate the need for needles and syringes for vaccine delivery. Another is Professor Veena Sahajwalla, who is turning car tyres into steel. I had the pleasure of visiting her research facility at the University of New South Wales, where they are delivering incredible progress, having diverted over two million waste tyres from landfill. They are working closely with OneSteel on the commercialisation of their research. (Time expired)