Themes and Priorities for the CRC Programme: Response to the Consultation

This response to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science consultation on themes and priorities for the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Programme records Research Australia’s survey input. It welcomes the inclusion of three health themes (clinical health care, mental health, and remote and Indigenous health) among the eight proposed, declines to rank them, and maintains that the Programme should support health advances beyond these three. Its main argument is for reinstating Public Good CRCs, excluded since the December 2015 guidelines required lead participants to be industry entities. Citing healthcare expenditure of about $161 billion a year, $108.2 billion of it by governments, it maintains that the health market’s structure means many valuable innovations, such as e-mental health programs and hospital protocols, resist commercialisation.