GOVERNANCE CHANGES COULD UNDERMINE AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL INDEPENDENCE
July 18 2005
Changes to the governance of one of Australia’s major research funding bodies could open up its funding decisions to greater political interference by the Government of the day, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) warned on Monday.
The changes, announced by the Federal Government late on Friday afternoon, will result in the abolition of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Board.
Under the soon to be abolished model, recommendations from peer reviews of research grant applications were first passed to the ARC Board, made up of respected community, industry and academic representatives, before being sent to the Federal Education Minister for final approval.
“The Board played a vital role in providing a layer of independent oversight of the ARC’s activities and gave advice on the direction of the research funding decisions,” said Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator.
“Under the new model, the CEO is the only independent check between the objective peer review assessment of applications and a Minister’s political judgement, a shift that could expose research funding decisions to substantial political interference.”
“The current Education Minister has already showed his preparedness to intervene in research funding decisions when in 2004 he exercised a little used power under the ARC’s Act to reject three grants recommended for funding by the ARC Board.”
“The NTEU is concerned that the recently announced changes could see further increases in political intervention in what should be the merit-based allocation of research funding.”
“This could compromise the ARC’s vital role in Australia’s broader research effort.”
“The changes to the ARC are just one of many attempts by the current Government to undermine the academic freedom and independence of our universities by reducing the barriers between our higher education institutions and the Government of the day,” said Nette.
Information and Comment:
Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator: 0438 026277