Download: Response to the Australian Research Council Amendment (Ensuring Research Independence) Bill 2018
The significance of this amendment will have a profound impact on current and future generations. Continuing to permit ministerial intervention sends a negative message to future generations that their passions, an integral part of individual identity, will not be backed by the place they call home. It will discourage self-expression and disenfranchise the current and future generations from reaching their true potential.
Funding cuts and grant vetoes do not only affect academics and staff; it changes the atmosphere on campus. As students, we often feel and share the disappointment of our lecturers, supervisors, friends and mentors. Consider a student’s perspective, seeing their role model lose their jobs because their expertise is ‘not of public interest’. What message does that send to future generations of a bright and hopeful future?
Recommendation:
Our view is that intervention by a ministerial decision impedes academic freedom and disrespects the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We have provided examples of foreign nations that entrust independent decision making by their academics and have protected funding for fundamental research. This is a research policy we would recommend Australia adopt as well and thereby propose:
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations welcomes any new money to public research funding. However, the current amount is still a far cry away from what is needed to take Australia’s public spending on R&D to the levels of other OECD countries.
CAPA National President Errol Phuah said it is great that research is getting some attention. The current amount can help create a few extra opportunities for new PhD students, and some job opportunities for recent graduates.
“The issues are that it is not enough and whether some of the money will be put back to areas where funding has been cut”, says Mr Phuah. “The money lost from the sector would have been dispersed more evenly across more areas of research.”
The push towards commercialisation and national priorities has put a focus on some research areas, whilst neglecting others. It represents a bright future for some careers and moves towards ending the careers of others.
“The people affected are researchers, supervisors, and our lecturers who may have dedicated their entire careers to becoming experts in their field. Yet someone has decided their research is not of public interest and does not deserve funding.
Was coronavirus or mRNA vaccine research of public interest five years ago? These research areas are definitely of public interest now, but nobody could have predicted this back then. This is why we should not try to pick winners.”
CAPA’s pre-budget response includes our independent research that recommends an overall increase in public research funding by 4 billion dollars between the ARC, NHMRC, CSIRO and CRC initiatives.
The industry-engagement side of research funding has mostly been addressed by this announcement and CAPA echos the NTEU’s recommendation that the ARC and NHMRC be funded 1 billion dollars each.
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For comment:
CAPA National President Errol Phuah
M: 0431 545 167
E: president@capa.edu.au
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has submitted its 2022-2023 Pre-Budget submission to Treasury – a copy of our submission can be found here.
Our submission takes a bold stance to highlight the challenges postgraduates have experienced for decades. We feel it accurately represents the resentment felt by our cohort and provides recommendations based on the most recent data available.
Our recommendations include:
“Australia boasted 30 years of continuous economic growth, and what do we have to show long-term? A soaring real estate market now at speculative and at unaffordable levels?” says CAPA National President Errol Phuah. “..and what would happen to that wealth if that property market crashes?”
We need a government that has the vision to properly invest in tangible assets; assets that will bring real wealth to the country through the good times and the bad. These investments include supporting people through higher education, R&D funding and infrastructure. This has formed the basis of our Pre-budget submission for 2022-2023.
CAPA looks forward to the upcoming budget announcement and, we hope our recommendations will be considered.
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CAPA National President Errol Phuah
M: 0431 545 167
E: president@capa.edu.au
Download: 2022-2023 Pre-Budget Submission
Overview:
Investments in research and the higher education sector have been declining over several years, and the consequences will be irreparable if left unaddressed. Furthermore, we are concerned Australia’s future innovators will be ill-prepared to contribute competitively in the post-covid environment.
We anticipate innovators of the future will be current and prospective postgraduate students. Thus, for the purpose of this submission, we identified the critical areas of a crisis affecting this demographic and concluded with the following recommendations:
