Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister. I refer to NICTA, the Australian government ICT research organisation, which is a world leader in bringing science and industry together. I draw the minister's attention to the fact that the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has used her last morning in Australia to visit NICTA, which has pioneering partnerships with Germany's Fraunhofer and Max Planck institutes. How did the ministers accompanying Chancellor Merkel explain the government's short-sighted budget decision to abandon NICTA by ceasing its funding in 2016?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In case people had not noticed, I am not in Sydney. I was not part of that discussion, so I am not aware of what my colleagues may or may not have said to the Chancellor of Germany when she undertook that tour. But I trust that, if a discussion did take place about policy, they may have reminded the Chancellor of Germany—a great lady, if I might say, and a great stateswoman who is doing wonderful things for the world, especially in Europe—they may have taken time out to explain to the Chancellor the sorts of policies that Senator Carr as minister presided over in the research and development area in the very first budget that he was responsible for.

You can do a compare and contrast. This government have the restrained financial circumstances that we inherited. Keep in mind that Labor's first budget was when there was a stack of money in the bank and we were running huge surpluses. Labor and minister Kim Carr deliberately cut funding for research and development—deliberately cut it. Compare that with what we face, where we have to borrow $1,000 million every month just to pay the interest component on existing loans—clearly and utterly unsustainable. Leaving a legacy of deficit and debt for the next generation is not something that we as a coalition want to preside over. Labor does. It does so regularly. But we are always given the task of cleaning up the mess that Labor leaves, and we are going about this task. What that means, regrettably, is that certain things that you might fund otherwise are no longer capable of being funded because of this legacy of debt and deficit occasioned by pink batts, school halls and other measures. (Time expired)

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister aware that under Labor research funding increased by 43 per cent? NICTA currently trains 300 PhD students who work directly with industry partners. Can the minister explain how the decision to cut off NICTA's funding and return those students to university labs will improve the link between industry and research?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As is always the wont with Labor, they have the headline figure and they have the big announcement. Senator Johnston will undoubtedly recall the big announcements in defence—huge! Huge white paper; defence spending was going to be bigger than anything and then—what?—they stripped $16 billion—$16,000 million—out of defence. So get the big headline as to what they are going to do and then they do the exact opposite.

The sad thing is they did exactly the same in the research and development area. Big headlines, big spending and big announcements, and then when you had a look—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock. A point of order, Senator Moore?

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr President, my point of order is on direct relevance. Senator Carr asked the minister about the link between the decision to cut off NICTA's funding and improving the link between industry and research. It is very straightforward and the minister has 16 seconds.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Moore. I do remind the minister that he has 16 seconds to complete his answer.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Part of the question was about the alleged 43 per cent increase. Can I remind the minister that in 2008 Labor cut $63.4 million from CSIRO over four years?

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock. A point of order, Senator Moore?

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, again it is to direct relevance. We raised the issue about the links between NICTA funding, industry and research. It is now three seconds to go and it has not been touched.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Moore, but Senator Carr did also ask about the 43 per cent and Senator Abetz was answering that directly.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr's excuse at the time was, 'Because we are fighting a war on inflation.' (Time expired)

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President I ask a further supplementary question. I ask again—

Government Senators:

Government senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock! Order on my right! Senator Carr you can commence your question again; we will start the clock again.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask again: why does the government keep saying it wants to build links between science and industry while cutting world-leading collaboration programs like NICTA and the cooperative research centres?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to cuts, can I remind the former minister in this area that he also cut $2.5 million from ANSTO? He cut $33 million from cooperative research centres in the 2010 budget and so the list goes on. I think we released a statement on 29 October, so relatively recently, entitled the Boosting the commercial returns from research discussion paper. We are actually getting on with the business to ensure that taxpayers' money will be directed appropriately for the maximum benefit of the Australian taxpayer.

And so, he who presided over these massive cuts—be those to ANSTO, be those to CSIRO or be they to cooperative research centres—has the audacity to get up here and complain about some of the decisions we need to make because of his profligacy whilst in government. (Time expired)