MEDIA RELEASE – AUSTRALIANS CALL FOR GREATER HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESEARCH FUNDING POST-PANDEMIC

5 December 2021

Support for health and medical research funding is at its highest level in more than a decade, with the COVID-19 pandemic prompting Australians to urge policymakers to prioritise research above taking action on climate change, keeping the national economy strong, defence and national infrastructure projects.

A major nationwide survey from peak health and medical research body Research Australia, conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that Australians rank health and medical research in the top three priorities for government, sitting only behind improvements to hospitals and healthcare and improvements to education standards.

More than one-third said the pandemic had prompted them to change their views on the importance of health and medical research and think that more funding should flow to the sector.

The survey – which has been conducted annually since 2003 to gauge Australians’ views – also shows that over 90 per cent of people support vaccination. Of those who did not support vaccination, nearly 8 out of 10 indicated that they would feel more confident about vaccines if they understood more about how they are created and tested, suggesting better education is the key to improving vaccination reach.

Research Australia CEO Nadia Levin said the findings clearly showed how COVID-19 had shaped Australians’ understanding of the enormous impact delivered by health and medical research.

“The pandemic has touched all of us and taken a terrible toll across the world,” Ms Levin said.

“Thanks to vaccines created through unprecedented international collaborations between researchers, hope is now in sight – but we wouldn’t be at this stage without the expertise and hard work of the health and medical research community, and the financial support to enable this enormous response.

“Australians are telling us that health and medical research has to remain a priority for our decision makers post-pandemic, and they’re absolutely right.

“Health and medical research delivers innovations and discoveries which shape all of our lives, improving our healthcare systems and driving breakthroughs in chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

“The Australian health and research sector punches well beyond its weight, but competition for funding is extremely fierce. With additional pressure on Australian universities due to the loss of international students, the risk of losing many of our brightest research minds overseas has magnified.

“As the peak body for Australian health and medical research, representing the entire pipeline from the laboratory to patient and the marketplace, we urge policymakers to closely read these findings and listen to the views of voters.

“Health and medical research must be seen and treated as the critical national capability it is – not only to ensure our health and quality of life, but as a key driver of our economy.”

Please see 2021 Public Opinion Poll on Health and Medical Research here.

Research Australia is the national peak body for Australian health and medical research.

Media contact: Pia Akerman 0412 346 746

MEDIA RELEASE – AUSTRALIA’S HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESEARCH SECTOR PAYS TRIBUTE TO MINISTER GREG HUNT

December 2021

Research Australia, the national alliance for Australian health and medical research, has thanked the Hon Greg Hunt MP for his incredible 20-year service as the Member for Flinders and his extraordinary commitment to health and medical research during his time as Minister for Health and Aged Care.

Research Australia CEO, Nadia Levin said, “Minister Hunt has been unequivocal in his support for the health and medical research community, and we have been delighted to call him a true friend to the health and medical research sector.

“Research Australia has been pleased to work side by side with Minister Hunt on a range of initiatives in support of health and medical research, including development of the $570 million Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Frontiers Fund.

“It was under Minister Hunt’s watch that the MRFF reached full capitalisation and we have been pleased to watch that important stream of funding mature. We continue to strive for a fund which truly delivers research that meets the needs of the health system”

Minister Hunt has demonstrated immense dedication, determination and personal commitment to keeping the population safe during the pandemic in incredibly difficult circumstances. Importantly, he has put expertise and advice of our health and medical research community at the forefront of our response.

“It is prior investments in health and medical research, like the MRFF, which the Minister has championed, that have enabled Australia to respond so ably in our time of crisis,” Ms Levin said.

Research Australia looks forward to building on Minister Hunt’s legacy and continuing to work with his successor on the challenges and opportunities facing the health and medical research community, including national coordination of the multiple streams of funding for health and medical research through a National Health and Medical Research Strategy.

Research Australia is the national peak body for Australian health and medical research. www.researchaustralia.org

Further information on the range of reforms Research Australia is driving is available via the Research Australia Consultation Hub.

Media contact: Peta Garrett, Senior Government Relations Adviser, 0400 011 394

New MRFF Strategy 2021-2026

Research Australia welcomes the release of the Australian Medical Research and Innovation Strategy 2021-2026, which sets clear objectives to support and foster Australian HMR to meet future health needs. This is a definitive step towards tackling the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic so that we emerge with a stronger health and medical research sector, capable of delivering better health and economic prosperity for Australians. Research Australia’s consultation Health and Medical Research – Australia can do better! seeks your input on how we do this. Visit our consultation hub and let us know your views on the key reform areas here.

For more information about the MRFF Strategy and Priorities, visit our webpage here.

Sector support for Patent Box

As the national peak for the whole of the health and medical research pipeline, Research Australia was pleased to convene a broad cross-section of health innovators including Medicines Australia, AusBiotech, and the BioMelbourne Network to develop a unified position on the Patent Box tax treatment. Together we have issued the following joint statement.

Joint Statement of support for an Australian Patent Box

Australia’s health innovators support the introduction of a Patent Box, and we welcome this initiative by the Australian Government. With the right policy settings, a Patent Box will ensure Australian discoveries in health are developed here, ensuring Australia captures the opportunity for new industries and jobs in health innovation. We look forward to working with Treasury to ensure the design of the patent box adequately incentivises Australian health innovators to develop and manufacture their ideas onshore.

This collective statement is made by Research Australia, Medicines Australia, AusBiotech, BioMelbourne Network and the Medical Technology Association of Australia. In short, we represent a broad cross-section of health innovators. Our combined membership conducts most health-related research and development (R&D) activities in Australia with the objective of discovering and delivering better health outcomes and an enhanced health system for Australian patients and the world. This membership includes universities, research institutes, consumers, and small, medium and large companies.

What is a Patent Box?

A Patent Box is a tax concession that provides a lower tax rate for income derived from certain forms of intellectual property (IP), typically patents. The policy goal of patent boxes is to promote R&D and the commercialisation of IP.

Key Points

We strongly support the introduction of a Patent Box in Australia. Many of us have advocated for the introduction of a Patent Box for several years.
We acknowledge the need for the design of the Patent Box to be consistent with the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) Action 5 Minimum Standard.
The UK’s patent box provides a model for Australia which is superior in many ways to the model proposed in the Australian Treasury’s Discussion Paper.
The Government should establish an expert working group with industry representation to support the design and implementation of the Patent Box.

Download the joint statement here.

Research Australia will continue to work with the Government and the Treasury to support the further design and implementation of the patent box.

Research Australia’s submission in response to the Treasury consultation is available here.

Research Australia monitoring important new MRFF legislation

The Government introduced the Investment Funds Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 into Parliament on 25 August. If passed, it will, among other things, fix the amount of funding disbursed from the MRFF for five years at $650 million per annum. At the end of the five-year period, the investment performance of the MRFF will be assessed to determine if sufficient earnings have accumulated over the period to raise the annual rate of disbursement. This five-year review period will become a permanent feature of the MRFF.

The MRFF 10-year Investment Plan introduced by the Government in the 2019 Budget has allocated roughly $550 million per annum over the period to 2027-28. The proposed legislative change will allow these commitments to be met, while providing approximately $100 million per annum for new commitments and programs.

This change is about reducing the volatility in MRFF disbursements that arises because of the link to annual investment returns. This volatility caused the Government to tip in $175 million to MRFF disbursements in December last year to keep the MRFF 10-year Plan on track.

Research Australia will be closely monitoring performance of the MRFF and continuing to advocate for fund growth to mirror the growth of the health and medical research sector. While fixing the disbursements, as is proposed by the legislation, provides certainty as to how much we can expect to see disbursed from the MRFF every year, we are seeking clarity as to whether this amount will be indexed. At a bare minimum, the MRFF should keep pace with inflation. Research Australia members remain concerned that other key funding streams like the ARC and NHMRC are not indexed to CPI, meaning they don’t keep pace with inflation and, in real terms, are funds in decline.

The Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee is undertaking an Inquiry into the Bill and is due to report back to the Senate by 14 October.

For further information or to contribute to Research Australia’s submission, please contact Lucy Clynes, General Manager at lucy.clynes@researchaustralia.org

MEDIA RELEASE – NOBEL LAUREATE PROFESSOR BRIAN SCHMIDT AC APPOINTED TO THE BOARD OF RESEARCH AUSTRALIA

July 2021

The nation’s peak body for health and medical research and innovation, Research Australia, has welcomed Australian National University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Schmidt AC, FRS, FAA, to its Board.

Chair of Research Australia, Associate Professor Annette Schmiede said, “as the national peak body for the whole health and medical research pipeline, our Board includes leaders from across our membership. As a major figure in science and academia, Brian’s contribution to our strategic focus of health and medical research advocacy, will be invaluable.”

“The opportunity to leverage Australia’s outstanding research capability and research excellence is now, and strong sector leadership is essential to fulfilling that potential. I therefore welcome Professor Schmidt with his distinguished record and commitment to further the advancement of a high performing research sector for Australia.”

Professor Schmidt said “research improves the world every day. It builds the products, industries and jobs of tomorrow. It helps us find solutions for the significant challenges plaguing our planet. It builds societies and economies that are more just and equitable. And it makes us understand the world around us and our place in it. I am honoured to be joining the board of Research Australia and look forward to working with the team to help promote the vital role and positive impact research has every day for all Australians.”

Research Australia’s CEO, Nadia Levin said Professor Schmidt’s appointment reflects our recognition that much of Australian health and medical research is conducted in our universities, and that, crucially, it is reliant on the broader scientific research endeavour.

“Ensuring that Australia’s people continue to enjoy good health and a quality of life means we must make greater use of our research outcomes to drive greater health and economic impact. Professor Schmidt’s experience and standing will greatly add to these efforts.”

Biography

Appointed the 12th Vice-Chancellor of ANU in January 2016.

Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

Professor Schmidt makes a significant contribution to public debate through the media, and via his membership of bodies including the Prime Minister’s National Science and Technology Council.

Professor Schmidt received undergraduate degrees in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Arizona in 1989, and completed his Astronomy Master’s degree (1992) and PhD (1993) at Harvard University. Under his leadership, in 1998, the High-Z Supernova Search team made the startling discovery that the expansion rate of the Universe is accelerating. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, The United States Academy of Science, and the Royal Society, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2013. Professor Schmidt has spent most of his academic career as an astrophysicist at the ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics,

Research Australia is the national peak body for Australian health and medical research and innovation. www.researchaustralia.org.

Contact: Sally Shepherd, Research Australia on 0413 772 285 or sally.shepherd@researchaustralia.org

Health and Medical Research Awards Finalist, Professor Brett Mitchell, featured in the Newcastle Herald

Research Australia welcomed the Newcastle Herald article featuring Professor Brett Mitchell’s UTI research which will reduce patient infection risk in Australian hospitals and save health services money.

Professor Brett Mitchell, an infection control expert, has found that using antiseptic before inserting a catheter reduces the risk of urinary tract infection in hospitals.

Click here to read the full article on the Newcastle Herald’s website.

Clearing the pathway for global clinical trials

Australia’s world-class research community and strong health system, along with low COVID-19 infection rates, should be a beacon, positioning Australia as the preferred global destination for clinical trials.

We have been working with our members from across the pipeline including Novo Nordisk, GSK, PRAXIS Australia and many others to shine a light on the opportunities (and address the challenges) to attract global clinical trials to Australia.

It is fitting that today on International Clinical Trials Day, Research Australia is pleased to publish our report;

Clearing the pathway for global clinical trials

Improving the environment for clinical trials enables Australian patients to benefit from the latest medicines and technologies developed both in Australia and overseas. It also helps Australian health and medical research to flourish in a competitive and lucrative world market.

This report outlines how we can unlock Australia’s potential through 7 key areas:

A world-first, national approach to decentralised clinical trials
Developing a ‘one-stop-shop’ for clinical trial approvals
How to cost and budget for clinical trials
Demonstrating Australia’s high-quality clinical trials capacity to the world
Incorporating health data into Australia’s clinical trial system
The world’s most highly skilled clinical trials workforce
Working with consumers to build better clinical trials

To read and/or download the report please click here.

MEDIA RELEASE – MORE FUNDING IS WELCOME BUT RESEARCH MUST UNDERPIN AGED CARE AND MENTAL HEALTH REFORM

11 May 2021

Aged care and mental health reform

The national peak body for Australian health and medical research has welcomed additional Government investment in key policy areas including aged care and mental health in the Federal Budget.

However, more thought must be given to the critical role health and medical research plays in health reform.

Research Australia CEO Nadia Levin said, “While more investment in aged care and mental health is undoubtedly welcome, we haven’t yet seen a clear line of funding for the critical role of research in the development and implementation of new programs.

“Within the $2.3bn Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, there is $117.2 million for data collection, in part to establish the evidence base for reforms. We will be seeking the advice of key mental health research experts to understand how this data can inform continuous, evidence-based improvement to Australians’ mental health care.

“The Aged Care Royal Commission recommended more funding for research into aged care and healthy ageing. We don’t currently have detail on how that recommendation has been reflected in the Aged Care Reform Package.

“Research Australia has brought together an Aged Care Working Group with leading aged care researchers, health economists, service providers and consumer representation. We’ve formed this Group to put the Aged Care Reform Package under the microscope and provide expert advice to Government on how research can underpin aged care reform.”

Health Innovation

Research Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s commitment to patent box tax treatment to encourage health innovators to manufacture their discoveries onshore.

“Research Australia has been a long-term advocate for a patent box policy. It has been proven to work overseas and it, along with the R&D Tax Incentive, will help in building local medical manufacturing and reducing Australia’s reliance on medical imports,” Nadia Levin said.

Research Australia has also welcomed the commitment to funding to develop an onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability in Australia.

“This is an important step towards a national capability to ensure Australia is part of a ballooning global supply chain of future medicines and vaccines which will be mRNA-based.

“A nationally significant capability like this requires a coordinated, national approach. We need to draw in Australian mRNA experts from universities across the country, Australian industry partners already doing work in mRNA and the states who are already progressed in looking at their own local mRNA capabilities.

“Research Australia was one of the first groups to call for a feasibility study into mRNA technology because we know that this complex capability cannot be delivered by researchers or industry acting alone.

“We also know that mRNA is not just about vaccines. With further research, RNA has a potential application in cancer immunotherapy, regenerative medicine and genome editing. It can be used to treat genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy, cancers, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

“An onshore mRNA capability is a golden opportunity to match Australia’s world-class research capability with commercial capability,” Nadia Levin said.

The MRFF and the NHMRC

The Health Budget has also delivered key funding with the Medical Research Future Fund now fully matured and on track to deliver $2.4 billion in research funding over the next four years.

“Australians deserve access to the latest and best treatments and therapies delivered by the world’s most innovative health system.

While the sustained investment in the MRFF in tonight’s budget is a welcome step towards this, funding for the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council fail to even keep pace with inflation.

“In real terms, funding for the NHMRC and ARC is declining. The NHMRC plays a unique and vital role in funding medical research separate to the MRFF and at a minimum, its funding must keep pace with inflation if it is to guarantee the pipeline of health and medical research so vital to our national health and wealth,” said Nadia Levin.

Higher education

Australian universities are critical to carrying out health and medical research in Australia. More than half of Australian health and medical research is conducted in Australian universities and they provide a skilled workforce to the health and medical research sector.

“Without a national plan for the safe return of international students, there continues to be a lost revenue stream for universities which will ultimately start to impact how much health and medical research Australia can do. And whilst last year’s $1bn funding commitment was welcome, long-term sustainable funding is needed if we’re to keep pace with global advances in medicine.

“In the coming months and years, Australians will look to health and medical research and innovation to deliver more effective treatments and more efficient pathways of care to curtail these costs. Research Australia will continue to work with Government to ensure support for the crucial role all parts of the health and medical research pipeline have to play in delivering better, more sustainable care.” Nadia Levin said.

The budget announcements are part of the equation, Research Australia will continue its advocacy efforts, influencing smarter investment in health and medical research and innovation.

Health and medical research must be seen and treated as the critical national capability it is. Not only to ensure our health and quality of life, but as a key driver of our economy.

www.researchaustralia.org

Research Australia is the national peak body for Australian health and medical research – representing the entire pipeline from fundamental research through to health innovation and commercialisation.

Media contact: Lucy Clynes 0404 068 912

Budget Update 2021

Summary

The economic impact of COVID-19 continues to dominate the Australian Budget, with tonight’s Budget, the second handed down in just seven months. Like the last one, this is a big spending Budget, but the focus has shifted from providing immediate stimulus to longer term recovery and Australia’s future prosperity. In the health sector, policy reform is focused on aged care and mental health.

Apart from COVID, the biggest health issue the Australian Government has had to grapple with in the last 12 months is aged care. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety provided the Government with 148 recommendations earlier this year. Until tonight, the Government had not provided a substantial response to the report.

This Budget outlines an additional $17.7 billion over five years, seeking to address the needs of aged Australians living at home and those in residential care. This equates to around half of what is called for overall in the Royal Commission’s Final Report. The Prime Minister’s press release states the Government has accepted 126 of the 148 recommendations, we are awaiting the Government’s detailed response to the Royal Commission – particularly the recommendations for dedicated funding for aged care and ageing research. The proposals from the Royal Commissioners in relation to funding for innovation and research have not been funded in this Budget.

Mental Health has also been under the spotlight, including the impact of COVID-19 on mental health. The Productivity Commission provided the Government with a report last year on what could be done to improve mental health, and earlier this year the Department of Health and Ageing consulted on what measures from the report should be implemented, and when.

Tonight’s budget provides $2.3 billion over four years from 2021-22 for the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, including initiatives to be progressed with states and territories for a new national agreement on mental health and suicide prevention. The Government has indicated that it has accepted all the recommendations of the Productivity Commission Report on Mental Health and that the funding announced tonight is only phase one of its response. The only research specific funding announced as part of this package is establishment of an Eating Disorders Research Centre as part of a $26 million package of funding for eating disorders. Further funding for research-related aspects of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations may follow in future budgets. There is $117.2 million for data collection, in part to establish the evidence base for reforms. We will be seeking the advice of key mental health research experts to understand how this data can inform continuous, evidence-based improvement in mental health care for Australians.

While Preventative Health has gained attention from the Government in the last couple of years, the National Preventive Health Strategy is still very much a work in progress and there is only very limited additional funding for preventive health in tonight’s Budget. There is $1.9 million in 2021-22 for preventive health research and scoping activities, including a national health literacy strategy, to inform the National Preventive Health Strategy. Research Australia has previously advocated the need to improve health literacy (and digital health literacy) as a key measure to address health inequity and enable all Australians to better use technology to manage their health.

One of the key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we have become overly reliant on global supply chains for vital materials. This drove a new focus in last year’s Budget on manufacturing, with the announcement of $1.3 billion over five years from 2020-21 for the Modern Manufacturing Initiative. While the Government seems satisfied this is enough, Research Australia believes more needs to be done, and has proposed raising annual Government spending on R&D to 0.75% of GDP, setting a target for Australia to become a net exporter of pharmaceuticals by 2035, and using the Government’s influence as a key buyer of products and services to boost Australian innovation.

A key measure in this regard is a patent box; a tax deduction provided to companies that manufacture in Australia using Australian developed IP (patents). The patent box will only apply to income derived from Australian medical and biotechnology patents, with consideration to be given to the clean energy sector. It provides a concessional effective corporate tax rate of 17 per cent, with the concession applying from income years starting on or after 1 July 2022. Such a scheme has operated in the UK for many years and is designed to support high value manufacturing in Australia, complementing the R&D Tax Incentive. Research Australia has been a long-term advocate of patent box tax treatment, along with CSL and others in our sector, and this is a significant win for health and medical research.

Much has been said recently about mRNA manufacture of vaccines and therapeutics, with the Victorian and NSW Governments both announcing support and Victoria proposing to invest $50 million. In the Budget tonight the Government has announced that it, too, is acting. It will provide an undisclosed amount of funding (commercially sensitive) to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to work with the Department of Health to develop an onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability in Australia. Research Australia called for such a commitment from the Government in our Pre-Budget Submission and we have been calling for this facility privately and publicly, to encourage this sovereign capability .

While the MRFF funding proceeds as outlined in the Government’s MRFF 10 year Plan, the funding to the NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account continues to decline in real terms.

Medical Research Future Fund

Funding from the MRFF

The MRFF reached the target of $20 billion of capital in August 2020. Tonight’s Budget sees this balance maintained over the forward estimates.

Forecast spending from the MRFF remains largely as expected over the forward estimates. While only $455 million is available from the MRFF to fund research and innovation in 2021/22 due to lower-than-expected investment returns, the Government is maintaining spending this financial year by providing an additional $175 million for MRFF funding from consolidated revenue (announced in the December 2020 mid-year budget). At this stage the Government expects the investment returns to recover this financial year, with $650 million available to fund medical research and innovation in 2022/23.

MRFF expenditure

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
MRFF Funding 2021 Budget	579.9	455.0	650.0	650.0	650.0

NHMRC and ARC Funding

In Research Australia’s Pre- Budget Submission and our Pre-Election Statement we continue to call for increases in funding for the NHMRC and ARC’s research programs. This Budget sees both schemes continue to decline in real terms, which is of genuine concern to the health and medical research community.

NHMRC Programs

The 2021/22 Budget reveals funding for the NHMRC’s programs continuing to grow very slightly, and only slightly faster than was forecast in last year’s budget. The increase in this financial year is 1,1%, with annual increases of around 1% thereafter. This is lower than the forecast CPI of 3.5%% for 2020-21 and CPI of between 1.75% and 2.5% expected in subsequent years. In effect, NHMRC funding continues to decline in real terms, as it has done for many years now. Research Australia remains concerned about this deficit because research and its outcomes is a long-term commitment.

NHMRC MREA Funding

$m.

20-21

21-22

22-23

23-24

24-25

Funding to MREA

2021 Budget

853,864

863,266

875,362

887,588

899,124

Funding to MREA

2020 Budget

853,864

862,412

872,770

884,960

N/A

ARC Programs

The Australian Research Council’s Funding Programs are critical to Australian publicly funded research including to the life sciences and medical technologies.

Over the forward estimates, the funding to the ARC for the Discovery Program increases slightly each financial year and while higher than in last year’s Budget, the funding is at significantly lower levels than forecast in the 2019 Budget. In real terms funding to the Discovery Program declines over the forward estimates. Again, a cause for concern.

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
Discovery 2021 Budget	483,272	489,188	494,922	501,162	509,432
Discovery 2020 Budget	483.272	487.016	487.860	490.610
Discovery 2019 Budget	513.542	525.537	538.350	N/A

The ARC Linkage Program has been singled out by the Government as an important component of Australia’s innovation system, and it was announced that from 1 July 2016 the Program would be open to continuous applications and decision making would be fast tracked.

Funding over the forward estimates is higher than forecast in last year’s budget, but future years fail to keep pace with inflation.

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
Linkage 2021 Budget	323.166	325.454	329.948	334.109	339.622
Linkage 2020 Budget	322.181	323.871	325.240	327.074	N/A
Linkage 2019 Budget	288.788	295.246	301.741	N/A	N/A

While not funding ‘medical and dental research’, the ARC Linkage program remains important to the health and medical research and innovation sectors.

Research Support

In addition to providing funding for the ARC Linkage Program, the Department of Education and Training also provides funding to universities to help cover the indirect costs of research.

In last year’s Budget, the Government used the Research Support Program to provide a vital injection of $1 billion into higher education research in the current financial year. No further injection is provided in this year’s Budget and funding in is actually lower than was forecast in the 2019 Budget.

Research Support Program

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
2021 Budget	1918.298	930.659	942.775	958.326	974.143
2020 Budget	1918.298	926.490	929.270	938.107	N/A
2019 Budget	920.573	941.748	962.455	N/A	N/A
2018 Budget	1,018.879	1,042.302	N/A	N/A	N/A

Funding for the indirect costs of research funded by the MRFF is now provided from the Research Support Program. With the MRFF providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to universities over the next few years, beyond this financial year, a substantial increase in the Research Support Program is needed just to maintain the levels of research support funding for research projects at their current already inadequate level. The cuts to the Research Support Program beyond the one-off boost in 2020-21 represent a real and continued threat to the capacity of our universities to undertake vital health and medical research.

The issue of indirect research costs remains unresolved for the whole health and medical research sector and indeed publicly funded research more broadly. Research Australia continues to call for a whole of government approach to the issue of funding indirect research costs. Research Australia proposes that the Chief Scientist lead a review of the funding of indirect research costs to establish a sustainable and equitable funding program. In the short term, the pool of funding for the Research Support Program must be increased substantially.

Research Training

The Research Training Program (RTP) provides funding to universities to support higher degree by research students (mostly PhDs). Funding for the RTP also declined in absolute terms between the 2019 and 2020 Budgets, and have only partly recovered in this year’s Budget.

Research Training Program

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
2021 Budget	1054.981	1069.182	1083.160	1100.967	1119.137
2020 Budget	1054.981	1064.392	1067.585	1077.738	N/A
2019 Budget	1057.595	1081.921	1105.710	N/A	N/A

Industry PhDs

The Department of Industry will provide $1.1 million over two years from 2020-21 to create new employment pathways for students and boost financial incentives for universities to enrol students in ‘Industry PhDs’. This measure will introduce an additional weighting in the Research Training Program funding formula for PhD students who undertake an industry placement.

Research Commercialisation

In last year’s Budget the Government committed funding for a scoping study for a University Research Commercialisation Scheme to better translate and commercialise university research outputs. The development of the Scheme is still in train and there is no funding for the Scheme in this year’s Budget. It looks like this might have to wait until next year. Research Australia remains actively engaged in consultation with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on this Scheme.

CRC Program

Funding forecasts for the CRC Program reflect a shift in some funding between 2019-20 and 2020-21. Beyond that, they are slightly lower over the forward estimates.

CRC Program $million

$m.	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24	24-25
2021 Budget	222,777	189,980	197,815	191,042	193,807
2020 Budget	234,168	189,040	186,378	188,599	N/A
2019 Budget	187,356	192,239	191,223	N/A	N/A

The CRC Program is important to health and medical research and innovation with about one third of the CRCs funded over the life of the program being health related.

Conclusion

Research Australia will continue to provide analysis and comment in the coming days and weeks as well as seek further input from across the membership for your reactions and insight into the policy and funding announced for our sector; and how it affects or enhances your research and related activities as a result.

Ends …..