Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in Australia – Submission in Response to the Consultation Paper

This submission responds to the Consultation Paper of the Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in Australia (the McKeon Review). Research Australia endorses the Panel’s vision of ‘Better Health Through Research’ and is generally supportive of its 21 draft recommendations, drawing on its own 10 Strategic Imperatives 2012–2020. It recommends that the Panel articulate a holistic vision linking basic research health outcomes, to clarify the role of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and its interface with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), and to engage the community and the philanthropic sector more actively. On specific recommendations, it suggests a smaller number of large multi-institution Integrated Health Research Centres with budgets of up to $20 million a year over seven years; supports protected research time for clinicians, including through Activity Based Funding; supports at least 60% indirect cost loading for competitive grants; opposes a fee for NHMRC project grant applications and proposes a two-stage application process; and supports $150–200 million a year for enabling infrastructure such as national patient databases and biobanks. It maintains that matching requirements for proposed Development Block Grants would deter early-stage commercialisation, supports broader donation matching including for collaborations of small philanthropic organisations, disagrees that the charities regulator should drive philanthropic collaboration, and questions whether the NHMRC should review its own implementation, citing the National Carer Strategy as an implementation model.