Tag: research funding

Policy Update August 2024

This Policy Update covers developments since the May Budget.

National Science Statement and new National Science Priorities

The much-awaited new National Science Priorities were released on Monday 12 August, and were accompanied by a Science Statement. They are available from the Department of Industry Science and Resources website.

The Science Statement has a strong emphasis on the role science can play in supporting and creating industry, with a strong focus on economic prosperity. This is to be achieved through missions, multidisciplinary research and breaking down siloes, guided by 5 imperatives:

    1. Australian scientists, science institutions, and infrastructure shaping Australia’s science future
    2. Science at the centre of Australian industry
    3. A diverse, skilled workforce to underpin the translation of science into new industries
    4. Embracing science to drive Australia’s regional and global interests
    5. A science system prepared for future challenges

The new Statement provides an opportunity to position the health, disability and aged care sectors as an ‘industry’ that is vital to Australia’s future success and prosperity, as a means of aligning health and medical research more closely with the Statement.

The Statement also focuses on encouraging people to undertake STEM careers but there is little on supporting the existing research workforce. A lot about missions, multidisciplinary research and breaking down siloes.

Five national Science Priorities have also been identified:

    • Transitioning to a net zero future
    • Supporting healthy and thriving communities
    • Elevating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems
    • Protecting and restoring Australia’s environment
    • Building a secure and resilient nation

Supporting healthy and thriving communities is a very broad priority, embracing social and environmental determinants, and building health literacy. It includes disability and ageing, as well as health and medicine more generally.

Modernising Human Tissue laws

On Thursday 14 August, the Attorney General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus and Assistant Health Minister the Hon. Ged Kearney MP announced an inquiry by the Australian Law Reform Commission into Australian tissue donation laws. Largely the responsibility of the State and territories, the review will consider whether legislative reform is required to harmonise laws across the nation. The inquiry will include consideration of donation of tissue for scientific purposes. Further information on the Inquiry is expected to be provided on the ALRC’s website in coming weeks.

Australian Centre for Disease Control

While the interim Australian CDC has been operating within the Department of Health the Department has advised a new timeline for its development, to enable recommendations from the report of the COVID-19 Inquiry, due at the end of September, to be incorporated into the design, followed by further consultation. The establishment of the Australian CDC will be subject to the passage of legislation; the lack of funding for the CDC in this Budget indicates the Government does not expect it to start in this financial year.

Australia’s Economic Accelerator

Only available to universities and funded through the Education portfolio, the AEA is set to provide funding of $270 million over 2024/25, through two separate programs:

Round 1 Round 2
AEA Ignite

Proof of Concept (TRL2.3.4)

Max. $500,000 for 12 months

 $60 m. open now $30m. open Nov.24
AEA Innovate

Proof of Scale (TRL 5,6,7)

Max. $5m. for up to 2 years

 $120m. open now $60 m. early 2025

For AEA Ignite an industry partner is recommended and it is mandatory for AEA innovate.

The programs must fit within the Government’s seven Priority areas for investment:

    • Value-add in Resources
    • Agriculture, forestry & fisheries
    • Medical Science
    • Renewables & low emission tech
    • Defence Capability
    • Transport
    • Enabling capabilities

In addition to being in one of these priority areas, The AEA Advisory Board for the Australia’s Economic Accelerator has set the investment plan for the AEA for 2024/25. As a result, any proposal must also fit one of the six focus areas selected by the Board:

    • Critical and strategic minerals processing
    • Sustainable fuels
    • Digital agriculture
    • Quantum
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Advanced manufacturing

The most likely ‘fits’ within the focus areas for medical science are going to be products which require advanced manufacturing or utilise AI.

The focus area may change when the AEA Advisory Board sets its new investment plan for 2025/26.  More information is available here.

National HMR Strategy

The National HMR Strategy now has its own webpage.

‘The strategy will:

    • cover the entire sector and include all levels of government, industry, philanthropy, academia and consumers
    • strengthen and leverage Australia’s world-leading research capability.’

Several current activities have been brought under the umbrella of the National Health and Medical Research Strategy, including:

    • The MRFF/MREA alignment
    • The National One Stop Shop; and
    • The health and medical research workforce audit

MRFF/MREA Alignment

The MRFF/MREA alignment is proceeding in two stages, with legislative change required to fully implement a merged administration of the MRFF and MREA, with both funds managed by the NHMRC. ‘In the interim, the NHMRC and the department are working together to address key concerns and issues while we consider options for implementation. This includes working together to better use existing advisory committees (eg MRFF will seek advice from NHMRC committees), developing and implementing policies together, and other efforts that better align the two funds without requiring formal governance reforms.’ [Consultation Summary Report, Next Steps.]

Strategic Examination of R&D

Announced on Budget night, the new strategic examination of Australia’s R&D system is intended ‘to determine how we can get more value from every taxpayer dollar invested in research, maximise the contribution of science and R&D to the broader economy and maintain our competitive edge.’ Led by the Science and Industry Minister, it is nonetheless be a whole of government review.

A secretariat has been set up within the Department of Industry Science and Resources, and Dom English has moved from the Department of Education to lead the Secretariat. Consultation on the terms of reference and the members of the independent panel has been undertaken but the results are not yet public.

With health and medical research representing 26% of all Australian R&D, Research Australia will continue to champion a focus on health and medical research as part of this review.

National Reconstruction Fund

Fulfilling an election promise, the legislation to create the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) was passed in early 2023.

The NRF was initially scheduled to invest $15.0 billion over 7 years from 2023–24 to provide targeted co-investments in seven priority areas: resources; agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors; transport; medical science; renewables and low emission technologies; defence capability; and enabling capabilities. It can provide debt, equity or guarantees, but does not provide grants. The NRFC’s first corporate plan is available here. With time running out to make initial investments in this financial year, the plan commits the NRF to making its first investments before the end of 2024. No investments have been publicly disclosed to date.

HTA Review

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Policy and Methods Review concluded on 4 May 2024. The HTA Review Reference Committee which was responsible for overseeing the HTA Review, held its final meeting on 2 May 2024 and its final report has been provided to the Minister for Health and Aged Care.

The Minister has yet to make the Review Report, or any response to the report, public.

Recent Submissions

Good Institutional Practice Guide

In May, the NHMRC released a draft Good Institutional Practice Guide, which seeks to provide guidance to NHMRC-funded institutions and NHMRC-funded researchers about good institutional practice ‘to promote open, honest, supportive and respectful institutional cultures conducive to the conduct of high-quality research’. Its development has been overseen by NHMRC’s Research Quality Steering Committee.

Research Australia made a submission to the NHMRC, directed to the CEO Professor Steve Wesselingh. While welcoming the Guide we indicated that awareness of practices and initiatives that can improve research culture is not the primary barrier to improving research culture; significant work has already been done to identify the issues and raise awareness. The key problem is implementing the measures needed to improve the culture.

We suggested the finalisation and publication of the Good Institutional Practice Guide will provide impetus for improvement that we can build on if we act collectively. Research Australia suggested leadership and involvement from the NHMRC will be essential, and would demonstrate the NHMRC’s ongoing commitment to improving research culture and practice. We offered to work with the NHMRC, the Research Quality Steering Committee, other peak bodies and research institutions that want to participate in a coalition to improve research practice and culture.

Allied health Workforce

In May the Department of Health and Aged Care released a consultation paper on a draft outline of the National Allied Health Workforce Strategy, intended to ensure there are enough highly trained allied health professionals distributed across the country.

Research Australia’s response to the consultation paper focussed on the need for the strategy to recognise the role of allied health professionals as clinician researchers in creating a self improving allied health sector and supporting retention of allied health professionals.

To achieve this the Strategy needs to better support clinician researchers and the submission highlighted ways to do this.

Upcoming Consultations and Submissions

Keep up to date with new consultations on the Research Australia website here.

All Research Australia’s submissions to closed consultations can be found here.

Getting better value from the MRFF and the NHMRC’s MREA

 

In May the Department of Health announced a national consultation focused on optimising the government’s funding arrangements for health and medical research by improving strategic alignment and coordination between the MRFF and the NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account. Research Australia welcomes this initiative and the commitment that this reform will be undertaken within the broader context of a new National Health and Medical Research Strategy, a long-term campaign by Research Australia (and others).

Following consultation with our membership, Research Australia has made a submission in response to the Discussion paper.

Unified governance of the MRFF and the MREA presents a real opportunity to ensure the MRFF Priorities are developed with greater regard for what the MREA is funding, thereby ensuring better differentiation and complimentarily of the two funds. There is also an opportunity to address equity and health disparities through more coordinated and streamlined funding.

Research Australia has largely supported the proposed Model 2 as a way of improving coordination while recognising the distinct objectives and purposes of the two funds. Establishing one administrative funding body provides the opportunity for successful research projects to graduate more seamlessly from one funding program to the next including from an NHMRC program to an MRFF program. T

This new model must be delivered in such a way that preserves the MRFF’s funding for medical innovation, and that input from outside academia and medical research institutes is retained. Stakeholders from commercialisation, finance, and industry have a meaningful advisory role in both the priority setting and funding processes of the MRFF. Basic research can be funded by the NHMRC in a way that will ultimately support MRFF Priority areas if the two funds are better aligned.

Finally, a Workforce Plan must form part of the broader national HMR Strategy. This Workforce Plan should seek to address the challenges faced by early and mid-career health and medical researchers and identify careers/jobs critical to a future economy underpinned by a thriving innovation and modern manufacturing sector.

Consultation on changes to align the MRFF and MREA are ongoing and Research Australia is continuing to liaise with the Government on the sector’s behalf on these important reforms. If you would like to get involved please contact Research Australia’s General Manager Lucy Clynes at lucy.clynes@researchaustrlaia.,org or Head of Policy Greg Mullins at greg.mullins@researchaustralia.org

Research Australia’s submission is available here.  

Budget 2023 Update

Summary

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ mini Budget in October last year implemented some of the new Government’s election promises and cut some former Government’s programs. Tonight, the Government has delivered its first full Budget, setting the agenda and responding to the ongoing pressures of high inflation, a Medicare system in need of reform, a housing crisis and the need to decarbonise and diversify our economy.

The surprise Budget surplus for this year has been delivered, in part, by higher than expected commodity prices. Commodity prices are expected to fall in the future, and the Government has committed to diversifying our economy with more high value advanced manufacturing, including medical products. While some progress is made in this Budget, there is still more that can and must be done.

The rising cost of living has continued to be a key political issue. In the March 2022 Budget, the CPI was forecast to be 3.0% for 2022-23. The Budget tonight expects inflation to have peaked, at around 7% p.a. and to fall to 3.25% over 2023-24. Inflation increases the cost of undertaking health and medical research and innovation. Government funding for research has failed to keep pace with inflation over successive Budgets. This Budget delivers some relief with real increases in funding for ARC programs, while the NHMRC’s MREA is forecast to keep up with inflation.

Please read on for our summary of what this Budget means for health and medical research and innovation.

Health Portfolio

Improved digital health systems

The Budget includes a $951.2 million over 4 years investment in digital health technologies to build a more efficient, connected and collaborative healthcare system. This includes:

    • $325.7 million, to make the Australian Digital Health Agency an ongoing entity, so that it can continue to deliver important digital health infrastructure, including upgrading My Health Record. Only one in 10 medical specialists currently use My Health Record and only one in five diagnostic imaging reports are uploaded. We continue to await further information on a Framework for secondary use of My Health Record data for research purposes.
    • $429 million to ensure that My Health Record is easier to use, is compatible with the information and billing systems that health practitioners are already using, and connects the health system so that patients can access and securely share their health data.
    • $126 Million to renew the Intergovernmental Agreement on National Digital Health for 4 years to progress the secure, safe and efficient sharing of information across the health system.

Australia’s first National Clinical Quality Registry Program receives $40 million over 4 years. Nominated areas are dementia, cystic fibrosis, and pelvic floor disorders. This is good news, reversing several years of delays; registries are a vital bridge between healthcare and research.

Australian Centre for Disease Control (ACDC)
The Government is fulfilling its election promise to create the ACDC, backing up the $3.2 million allocated in the October Budget for preparatory work with $91.1 million to establish an ‘interim’ Australian Centre for Disease Control in the Department of Health and Aged Care and replenish the National Medical Stockpile.


Other announcements include

  • $260m invested in a new national lung cancer screening program, with at risk Australians able to get a lung scan every two years, as recommended by the independent Medical Services Advisory Committee.
  • The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will receive $61 million over 4 years for a range of activities aimed at protecting public health) including continued assistance to small and medium enterprises particularly those developing emerging technologies.
  • $26.3 million over 4 years to support equity in the healthcare system and improve the health of Australian women and girls), including through the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Maternity Data development project.
  • $900,000 to develop a 10 Year National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people, and to establish an LGBTIQA+ Health Advisory Group.

Consistent with Research Australia’s sustained advocacy on this issue, this Budget sees the Government’s funding to the NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account appear to just keep up with projected inflation, but with an unexplained decline in funding in the last year of the forward estimates. The MRFF funding meanwhile is static at $650 million per annum, meaning it fails to keep up with inflation and is declining in real terms.

 

Medical Research Future Fund

The funding available from the MRFF each year is dependent on the investment return on its capital. For 2023-24 the Future Fund Board of Guardians has determined the amount available for grants of financial assistance is $870 million. [1] Despite this, only $650 million has been made available as funding in 2023-24. And this is despite an underspend in 2022-23 of more than $50 million.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
Funding from MRFF 2023 Budget   598.0 650.0 650.0 650.0 650.0
Funding from MRFF 2022 Budget (OCT) 650.0 650.0 650.0 650.0
Funding from MRFF 2022 Budget (MAR) 650.0 650.0 650.0 650.0

There are programs that could be extended or expanded immediately, including support for early and mid career researchers and continuation of the highly regarded REDI program. Other programs could be established or piloted relatively easily, including the Clinical Research Fellowships proposed previously by Research Australia.

We will be working with the Government to understand why funding to the MRFF hasn’t been increased in 2023-24 even though more funding is available and what the intentions are for future years.

NHMRC Programs

Funding for the NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account has increased slightly since the October Budget, to $910 million in 2023-24. An increase of around 3.6% over 2022-23, this is about equivalent to forecast inflation. There are similar annual increases in the next two financial years, before a drop of around $12 million in 2026-27. There is no explanation at this stage for the forecast decline. Overall, the MREA is set to at least keep pace with expected inflation over the next few years, an improvement on years of real declines in funding.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
Funding to MREA 2023 Budget 877.952 910.652 940.330 962.039 949.747
Funding to MREA 2022 Budget (OCT) 877.952 905.160 922.365 938.095
Funding to MREA 2022 Budget (MAR) 877.952 891.094 905.355 918.985

Revamping Primary Care

This Budget responds to the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, delivering $6.1 billion to strengthen Medicare through:

    • A $3.5 billion investment to triple bulk billing incentives, for free GP consultations for 11.6 million children under 16, pensioners and other Commonwealth concession card holders; and
    • A $1.5 billion indexation boost to Medicare rebates –the biggest increase in 30 years.

Additionally, more than 300 medicines will be cheaper for 6 million Australians who will be able to buy 2 months’ worth of medicine with a single prescription. Fewer visits to the GP and pharmacy will save patients an estimated $1.6 billion.

MyMedicare ($19.7 million over 4 years) will build a stronger relationship between patients and their primary care teams. It is voluntary and open to anyone, with patients able to register with their preferred practice, GP and care team. MyMedicare will also support access to longer telehealth consultations ($5.9 million over 4 years).

It is interesting to see focused funding for cutting-edge patient clinical services will be funded through Medicare ($118.2 million over 5 years) including:

    • genetic testing for childhood hearing loss
    • genetic testing for haematological malignancies
    • profiling tests to determine a patient’s risk of recurrent breast cancer
    • testing for the diagnosis of mitochondrial disease.

While the Research Australia welcomes the major changes this will make to the delivery of primary care in Australia for the next decade and beyond, there has been no commitment to fund research to guide the design and implementation of these measures, or to support their evaluation. Measures to boost the primary care workforce similarly, do not include support for researchers to generate the evidence for improved primary care.

 

Education Portfolio

Nearly half of all Australian health and medical research is undertaken in the higher education sector, and the Department of Education makes a significant contribution to the funding of this research through several programs, as outlined below.

ARC Programs

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

Discovery Program

Over the forward estimates in this Budget, funding to the ARC for the Discovery Program increases by 8% in 2023-24 compared to this year, and by an average of 8% per annum in 2024-25 and 4% in 2025-26 and by 3%% in 2026-27. This means the Discovery Program is forecast to increase slightly in real terms (i.e. at a rate higher than inflation).

 

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 511.074 552.390 599.499 629.581 646.895
2022 Budget (OCT) 511.074 551.867 596.388 622.986
2022 Budget (MAR) 511.074 535.915 562.406 585.206

Linkage Program

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 317.251 343.808 373.989 402.784 430.918
2022 Budget (OCT) 319.503 345.731 374.289 400.792
2022 Budget (MAR) 340.820 357.704 375.595 390.950
2021 Budget 329.948 334.109 339.622
2020 Budget 325.240 327.074 N/A
2019 Budget 301.741 N/A N/A

The ARC Linkage Program has been charged with delivering the Industry Fellows component of the University Research Commercialisation Scheme. Accordingly there is a boost to the Linkage Program’s funding in the next financial year of around $26 million compared to 2022-23, and annual increases in subsequent years of 8% to 9% per annum. This means that like the Discovery Program, the Linkage Program is forecast to increase in real terms (i.e. at a rate higher than inflation).

Research Support

In addition to providing funding for the ARC research programs, the Department of Education provides funding to universities to help cover the indirect costs of research.

In the 2020 Budget, the Government used the Research Support Program to provide a vital one off injection of $1 billion into higher education research in that financial year, with funding in subsequent years reverting to normal’.  The 2023-24 Budget provides increases of around 5% per annum in the Research Support Program from 2023-24, meaning that funding for this program also increases slightly in real terms if inflation is as predicted.

Research Support Program

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 951.188 1005.282 1064.389 1101.524 1131.792
2022 Budget (OCT) 951.188 1004.314 1058.779 1089.934
2022 Budget (MAR) 951.188 978.674 1,002.668 1,028.230

Funding for the indirect costs of research funded by the MRFF is provided from the Research Support Program. With the MRFF providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to universities, 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 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 Training

The Research Training Program (RTP) provides funding to universities to support higher degree by research students (mostly PhDs). Funding for the RTP declined in absolute terms between the 2019 and 2020 Budgets, and only partly recovered in the 2022 Budget. Consistent with the October Budget, the latest Budget provides increases of around 6% per year in 2023-24 and 2024-24, before the annual increase drops to around 3%. Inexplicably, funding actually declines slightly in 2026-27, to $1.26 billion.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 1092.766 1154.911 1222.827 1264.691 1260.070
2022 Budget (OCT) 1092.766 1153.800 1216.372 1251.497
2022 Budget (MAR) 1092.766 1124.344 1151.909 1181.153

Australia’s Economic Accelerator

The Australia’s Economic Accelerator was announced in the March 2022 Budget, but the legislation was only passed earlier this year. This is a $1.6 billion program over 10 years, administered by the Department of Education to overcome the valley of death that currently exists between the point at which public research funding ceases (typically publication) and the point at which commercial investors are prepared to get involved. Unlike ARC programs, the Accelerator is open to application for medical products. The funding for the program reflects the delayed start in 2022-23 with higher funding over the forward estimates in subsequent years.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 10.172 99.536 163.247 161.646 212.089
2022 Budget (OCT) 10.172 99.444 162.395 159.95
2022 Budget (MAR) 49.160 99.444 149.498 154.601

National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) Program

The NCRIS Program funds vital national research infrastructure needed to support Australian research. The most recent National Research Infrastructure Roadmap nominated synthetic biology, digital research infrastructure, collections (biobanks) and facilities to scale up materials for clinical trials.

This Budget maintains the forecast annual boost to NCRIS of more than $100 million from 2023-24. The new Research Infrastructure Investment Plan should provide more detail about how this funding will be allocated once it is completed; hopefully it will be announced soon.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 286.043 402.290 503.116 462.850 372.323
2022 Budget (OCT) 286.043 400.028 499.848 458.338
2022 Budget (MAR) 286.043 396.826 496.739 454.441

 

Industry, Innovation and Science Portfolio

National Reconstruction Fund

Fulfilling another election promise, the Government earlier this year passed legislation to create the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF). The NRF will invest $15.0 billion over 7 years from 2023–24 to provide targeted co-investments in seven priority areas: resources; agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors; transport; medical science; renewables and low emission technologies; defence capability; and enabling capabilities.

The NRF is expected to generate revenue from investments, with estimated receipts of $188.7 million over the forward estimates from the $15 billion of investments in loans, equity investments and guarantees. The returns will be reinvested to ensure the NRF’s sustainability.

CRC Program

The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program is important to health and medical research and innovation, with many of the CRCs funded over the 30 year life of the program being health related. Current CRCs include the Digital Health CRC and the Autism CRC.

The smaller CRC projects program is also relevant, with recently funded projects including the creation of better brain electrodes and development of a bionic medical device that delivers high-fidelity visual-spatial perception for blind people. Funding for the CRC Program is scheduled to increase slightly faster than forecast in the March 2022 and October Budgets, but not quite enough to keeping up with projected inflation.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 199.374 200.532 208.046 205.199 209.737
2022 Budget (OCT) 199.374 199.962 205.054 201.579
2022 Budget (MAR) 199.374 193.117 197.070 193.540
2021 Budget 197.815 191.042 193.807 N/A

CSIRO

The CSIRO has Flagship Programs relevant to health and medical research and is a key collaborator and partner in research. While it generates much of its own revenue it is also funded by the Government. The Government contribution to the CSIRO outlined in the Budget rises in the next two financial years before dropping back again. There are slight increases on the funding outlined in the October Budget.

$m. 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 991.134 1,008.739 934.391 945.155 948.486
2022 Budget (OCT) 949.037 991.134 1.005.563 919.405 931.573
2022 Budget (MAR) 949.037 991.289 985.625 899.352 904.477

New beamlines for Synchrotron

ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron continues its partner-funded $98 million BR-GHT beamline expansion program, with eight new beamlines being constructed. This will nearly double the Synchrotron’s capacity and allow for broader engagement with researchers and industry in a range of applications, from high-tech manufacturing, including aerospace and transport, to health, including drug development and medical implants.

Entrepreneurs’ Program makes way for Industry Growth Program

The Entrepreneurs’ Program is a long standing funding program to support the commercialisation and development of new innovations. This Budget signals the end of the program, with a slow decline over several years, presumably as existing commitments are concluded.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26 26-27
2023 Budget 126.900 53.384 9.208 2.298 3.008

The Entrepreneurs’ program is being replaced with a new $397 million Industry Growth Program, providing grants of between $50,000 and $5 million to startups. It is focused on the same target areas as the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), including medical products, and is designed to support new businesses to the point where they are eligible for investment from the NRF.

Conclusion

Research Australia will continue to provide analysis and commentary in the coming days and weeks. We invite your responses and reactions to how the 2023 Budget affects you and your work.

You can share your views with us at our 30-minute budget analysis as part of our NEW – Member Event Series. We will provide a snapshot of Federal budget changes that affect the funding environment for Australian health and medical research and innovation.

 

When:  Thursday 11 May 2023

Time:  12 midday – 12.30pm (AEST)

Platform:  Zoom (details to be supplied after registration.)

If you have not yet registered, please click here.

 

Please contact Greg Mullins, Head of Policy, greg.mullins@researchaustralia.org

 

Ends …..

[1] Australian Government Future Fund, Determination pursuant to section 34(1) of the MRFF Act 2015 Maximum annual distribution for financial year 2023-24, obtained under FOI

Research Australia responds to NRF Implementation

Research Australia believes the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) has a vital role to play in creating a mature and vibrant domestic medical products industry as a cornerstone of a post-carbon Australian economy.

We have made four recommendations in response to the consultation on the implementation of the NRF:

    1. The Ministers should obtain the advice of a future Centre for Disease Control about medical products for which there is a critical unmet need for domestic manufacturing. This should be a consideration in how funds are subsequently allocated by the NRF, although not to the exclusion of the need to generate a return on the investment.
    2. Development of the investment mandate for the priority area of medical products should include identification of areas with the potential for profitable domestic manufacturing. This should be a consideration in how funds are subsequently allocated by the NRF, although not to the exclusion of the need to generate a return on the investment.
    3. The Australian Government should create a National Medical Products Industry Plan to accompany the introduction of the National Reconstruction Fund to make the most of all the Government’s investments throughout the health and medical research and development pipeline.
    4. The Australian Government should develop a medical products research, development and manufacturing workforce plan to determine where the gaps in existing skills are and to address them.

Research Australia’s submission addresses most of the questions posed in the consultation paper. The submission is available here. 

 

2022/23 BUDGET UPDATE- 25 October 2022

Summary

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has used his first Budget to implement some of the new Government’s election promises and make cuts to the former Government’s programs. This is a ‘mini budget’, which sets the scene for Labor’s first full Budget in April or May next year.

As such, there were no significant changes to funding for the ARC or the NHMRC research funding programs in the next two years, with modest increases across a range of funding programs in the following two years . It seems that any major increases in funding health and medical research will have to wait until the Budget situation improves.

The rising cost of living has continued to be a key political issue. In the March Budget, the CPI was forecast to be 3.0% for 2022-23 and 2.75% in 2023-24. In tonight’s Budget inflation for this year is expected to be 7.75% for 2022-323 and 3.5% in the next financial year. Rising inflation also affects health and medical research, making the cost of undertaking research higher. As noted above, the Government has once again failed to address this issue, with increases in funding for the NHMRC and ARC announced in the March Budget and maintained tonight failing to even keep pace with inflation.

Revamping Primary Care

The Treasurer has announced a $2.9 billion package to drive an innovative revamp of Australia’s primary health care system including $100 million to co-develop and pilot innovative models with states and territories to improve care pathways and inform program roll out. The new models of care will make it easier for Australians to see a healthcare professional when they have an urgent, but not life- threatening, need for care.

Comprehensive Cancer Centres

In a win for research-active healthcare, the Government has announced tonight $375.0 million over 6 years from 2022–23 to contribute to the establishment of the Queensland Cancer Centre in Brisbane. The centre will be owned and operated by the Queensland Government and will be located within the Herston Health Precinct at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

There is also $77.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to contribute to the establishment of the Bragg Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Adelaide. The centre is an extension of the Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy and Research at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. 

National Centre for Disease Control
The Government is fulfilling its election promise to create a National Centre for Disease Control, with $3.2 million allocated over the forward estimates in preparatory work.

National Health Sustainability and Climate Unit
In a sign of changing health priorities, a $3.4 million investment in the Budget will establish a National Health Sustainability and Climate Unit and develop Australia’s first National Health and Climate Strategy.

 

National Reconstruction Fund
The National Reconstruction Fund is a $15 billion election promise which includes $1.5 billion for medical products over seven years. In tonight’s budget the Government has confirmed this Fund is central to its plan to invest in a stronger economy, delivering better jobs

Other announcements that affect health and medical research and innovation include:

    • $39.0 million over 4 years from 2022–23 to increase the number and consistency of conditions screened through the newborn bloodspot screening
    • The new investment of $3 billion to deliver better aged care includes $23.1m for research and consultation for reforms to in-home aged care.

There are big spending announcements in areas as diverse as Defence and infrastructure. While not on the same scale, there is some good news for STEM, including:

    • $13.5 million over 4 years from 2022–23 to strengthen coordinated policy capability
      to identify, assess and support Australian development of critical and emerging
      technologies, an issue Research Australia has been tracking for some years now.
    • $10.3 million over 6 years from 2022–23 for Australia to host the International Science
      Council’s Regional Presence for Asia and the Pacific and to deepen Australia’s science
      engagement in the region.
    • $5.8 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to support women in science, technology,
      engineering and maths (STEM) through the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship
      program and to undertake an independent review of existing STEM programs.
    • $4.8 million over 4 years from 2022–23 to develop Australian quantum technology
      through sponsoring up to 20 PhD research scholarships and encouraging collaboration
      on quantum research across Australian universities. This cost will be partially met from
      within the existing funding for the Department of Defence’s Next Generation
      Technologies Fund.

Please read on for our summary of what this Budget means for health and medical research and innovation.

Health Portfolio

In Research Australia’s Pre- Budget Submission and our Pre-Election Statement we continued to call for increases in funding for the NHMRC’s Medical Research Endowment Account. This Budget sees the Government’s funding to the MREA continue to decline in real terms. This is of genuine concern to the health and medical research community; it jeopardises our long term research capability and increases the precariousness of research careers, especially for early and mid career researchers.

Addressing these and other issues are at the centre of Research Australia’s advocacy for a truly national health and medical research and innovation strategy, We are working with Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to make this vision a reality.

Medical Research Future Fund

The amount of funding available from the MRFF is predicted by the Budget to be $650 million per annum over the next four years. This is unchanged from the March Budget

The funding available from the MRFF each year is dependent on the investment return on its capital. Investment returns for the MRFF were adversely affected by the COVID driven economic downturn. The previous Government has committed the MRFF to providing funding of $650 million of the next few years, regardless of the actual investment returns on the MRFF’s capital. The Albanese Government has honoured this commitment for 2022/23, requiring it to provide an additional $62 million from consolidated revenue to meet this target. (Only $598 million has been released by the Future Fund Guardians to fund MRFF commitments this year.)

NHMRC 

Funding for the NHMRC’s MREA remains unchanged from the March Budget for 2022-23 and 2023-24, but is higher in the last two years of the forward estimates. Funding for the NHMRC’s programs is continuing to grow very slightly. The increase in this financial year is 1.7%, and around 1.5% in the following year before over the forward estimates. This is lower than the forecast CPI of 7.75% for 2022-23 and CPI of 3.5% in 2023-24. It also comes on top of CPI of 4.25% in 2021-22. In effect, NHMRC funding continues to decline in real terms in the next couple of years, as it has done for many years now.

$m. 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
Funding to MREA

2022 Budget (OCT)

 875.751 877.952 905.160 922.365 938.095
Funding to MREA

2022 Budget (MAR)

 863.266 877.952 891.094 905.355 918.985
Funding to MREA

2021 Budget

 863.266 875.362 887.588 899.124 N/A

Australian Centre for Disease Control

Fulfilling an election promise, the Government will provide $3.2 million in 2022–23 to undertake the initial design for the establishment of an Australian Centre for Disease Control. The design work will incorporate stakeholder consultations to ensure the new Centre will support improved pandemic preparedness and response, as well as the prevention of chronic disease. There is no detail about where the Centre will be located or potential partners.

Comprehensive Cancer Centres

The Government will provide $452.0 million over 6 years from 2022–23 to support the establishment of world class cancer centres in Brisbane and Adelaide. The centres will provide multi-disciplinary cancer care, research and clinical trials for all types of cancers.

Centre of Excellence in Disability Health

The Government will provide $15.9 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $6.6 million per year ongoing) to establish and support a National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health (the National Centre of Excellence). Partial funding has already been provided for, with only some of this funding a new commitment.

The National Centre of Excellence will deliver a central hub of expertise, resources and research on the health care of people with intellectual disability and provide leadership in meeting the needs of people with intellectual disability.

 

Education Portfolio

Nearly half of all Australian health and medical research is undertaken in the higher education sector, and the Department of Education makes a significant contribution to the funding of this research through several programs, as outlined below.

ARC Programs

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

Discovery Program

Over the forward estimates in this Budget, funding is slightly higher than the March Budget from 2023-24. The funding to the ARC for the Discovery Program increases by 0.8% compared to 2021/22, and by an average of 8% per annum over the next two years and 4% in 2025-26. This means that for the first time in many years the Discovery Program is forecast to increase slightly in real terms (i.e. at a rate higher than inflation).

$m. 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 506.735 511.074 551.867 596.388 622.986
2022 Budget (MAR) 489.188 511.074 535.915 562.406 585.206
2021 Budget 489.188 494.922 501.162 509.432
2020 Budget 487.016 487.860 490.610
2019 Budget 525.537 538.350 N/A

Linkage

The ARC Linkage Program had been singled out by the previous Government as an important component of Australia’s innovation system and delivering the Industry Fellows component of the University Research Commercialisation Scheme. Accordingly there is a boost to the Linkage Program’s funding in this Budget of around $11 million per annum compared to what was allocated last year. This is not enough to enable the Linkage program to fund 800 new Industry Fellowships over 10 years announced in February and keep up with inflation.

Linkage Program

$m.  21-22  22-23  23-24  24-25  25-26 
2022 Budget (OCT)  292.543  319.503  345.731  374.289  400.792 
2022 Budget (MAR)  325.454  340.820  357.704  375.595  390.950 
2021 Budget  325.454  329.948  334.109  339.622   
2020 Budget  323.871  325.240  327.074  N/A   
2019 Budget  295.246  301.741  N/A  N/A   

 

Research Support

In addition to providing funding for the ARC research programs, the Department of Education provides funding to universities to help cover the indirect costs of research.

In the 2020 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 was provided in last year’s Budget and funding in the March Budget for 2022-23 was actually lower than was forecast in the 2019 Budget. The October Budget provides increases of around 5% per annum in the Research Support Program from 2023-24.

 

$m.  20-21  21-22  22-23  23-24  24-25  25-26 
2022 Budget (OCT)     930.659  951.188  1004.314  1058.779  1089.934 
2022 Budget (MAR)     930.659  951.188  978.674  1,002.668  1,028.230 
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  1018.879  1042.302  N/A  N/A  N/A   

Funding for the indirect costs of research funded by the MRFF is provided from the Research Support Program. With the MRFF providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to universities, 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 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 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 has only partly recovered in the 2022 Budget. The October Budget provides increases of around $50 million per year from 2023-24.

 

$m. 20-21 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 1069.181 1092.766 1153.800 1216.372 1251.497
2022 Budget

(MAR)

 1069.182 1092.766 1124.344 1151.909 1181.153
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

Australia’s Economic Accelerator

The Australia’s Economic Accelerator was a new program announced in the March Budget which was not implemented before the election. The Albanese Government has given a commitment to fund it. This is a $1.6 billion program over 10 years, administered by the Department of Education to overcome the valley of death that currently exists between the point at which public research funding ceases (typically publication) and the point at which commercial investors are prepared to get involved. The funding in the October Budget indicates less finding this year, accounting for delays in starting the program, with slightly higher funding over the forward estimates in subsequent years.

$m. 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 10.172 99.444 162.395 159.95
2022 Budget (MAR) 49.160 99.444 149.498 154.601

National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS) Program

The NCRIS Program funds vital national research infrastructure needed to support Australian research. The 2021 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap informs the 2022 Research Infrastructure Investment Plan. Areas of interest to HMR that have been nominated for the New NCRIS roadmap include synthetic biology, digital research infrastructure, collections (biobanks) and facilities to scale up materials for clinical trials.

This Budget maintains the forecast $100 million boost to NCRIS from 2023-24 and slightly more funding each following year than was forecast in March. The 2022 Research Infrastructure Investment Plan should provide more detail about how this funding will be allocated once it is completed, hopefully later this year.

$m. 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 273.567 286.043 400.028 499.848 458.338
2022 Budget (MAR) 273.567 286.043 396.826 496.739 454.441
2021 Budget 273.565 283.922 391.092 491.265

Start Up Year

Fulfilling an election promise, the Government will provide $15.4 million over 4 years from 2022–23 (and $2.8 million per year ongoing) to establish the Startup Year program to deliver income contingent Higher Education Loan Program loans to up to 2,000 recent graduates, postgraduate and final year undergraduate students per year. The Startup Year will support students’ participation in a one-year, business-focused accelerator program at an Australian higher education provider, which will encourage innovation and support Australia’s startup community.

Industry, Innovation and Science Portfolio

National Reconstruction Fund

Fulfilling another election promise, the Government will invest $15.0 billion over 7 years from 2023–24 to establish the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) to provide targeted co-investments in 7 priority areas: resources; agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors; transport; medical science; renewables and low emission technologies; defence capability; and enabling capabilities.

The NRF is expected to generate revenue from investments, with policy and legislation design to follow public consultation.

$50 million over two years from 2022–23 has been allocated to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and the Department of Finance to establish the NRF.

Supporting Australian Science

The Government will provide $47.2 million over 6 years from 2022–23 to support the development of talent and leadership in Australian science and technology. Funding includes:

    • $13.5 million over 4 years from 2022–23 to strengthen coordinated policy capability to identify, assess and support Australian development of critical and emerging technologies
    • $10.3 million over 6 years from 2022–23 for Australia to host the International Science Council’s Regional Presence for Asia and the Pacific and to deepen Australia’s science engagement in the region
    • $10.0 million over 3 years from 2022–23 to continue delivery of Questacon outreach programs to engage young Australians and science teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including through touring exhibitions for regional, rural and remote communities
    • $5.8 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to support women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) through the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship program and to undertake an independent review of existing STEM programs
    • $4.8 million over 4 years from 2022–23 to develop Australian quantum technology through sponsoring up to 20 PhD research scholarships and encouraging collaboration on quantum research across Australian universities. This cost will be partially met from within the existing funding for the Department of Defence’s Next Generation Technologies Fund
    • $2.9 million in 2022–23 to improve the Prime Minister’s National Science and Technology Council’s provision of science and technology advice and continue support of the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science event.

 CRC Program

The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program is important to health and medical research and innovation, with many of the CRCs funded over the 30 year life of the program being health related. Current CRCs include the Digital Health CRC and the Autism CRC.

The smaller CRC projects program is also relevant, with recently funded projects including the creation of better brain electrodes and development of a bionic medical device that delivers high-fidelity visual-spatial perception for blind people. Funding for the CRC Program is scheduled to increase slightly faster than forecast in the 2021 and March 2022 Budget papers.

$m. 20-21 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 187.343

 

 199.374

 

 199.962

 

 205.054

 

 201.579
2022 Budget (MAR) 189.395 199.374 193.117 197.070 193.540
2021 Budget 222.777 189.980 197.815 191.042 193.807 N/A

Modern Manufacturing Initiative

The Modern Manufacturing Initiative was a major announcement in the 2020 Budget and part of the previous Government’s response to COVID-19. The program is being curtailed, with the Government reversing uncommitted funding in the Modern Manufacturing Initiative and not proceeding with a third round of the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. The saving is $303.7 million over three years.

CSIRO

The CSIRO has Flagship Programs relevant to heath and medical research and is a key collaborator and partner in research. While it generates much of its own revenue it is also funded by the Government. The Government contribution to the CSIRO outlined in the Budget rises in the next two financial years before dropping back again.

 

$m. 21-22 22-23 23-24 24-25 25-26
2022 Budget (OCT) 949.037 991.134 1.005.563 919.405 931.573
2022 Budget (MAR) 949.037 991.289 985.625 899.352 904.477

Conclusion

Research Australia will continue to provide analysis and commentary in the coming days and weeks. We invite your responses and reactions to how the second 2022 Budget affects you and your work.

For further information or questions, please contact Greg Mullins, Head of Policy, greg.mullins@researchaustralia.org

 

Ends …..

Research Australia’s Pre Budget Submission September 2022

Research Australia’s submission ahead of the Alabnese Government’s first Budget, to be handed down in October, acknowledges the large debt the Government is faced with. In keeping with the Government’s objective to fund activities that will boost productivity, we have outlined how investing in health and medical research can help grow Australia’s economy and provide well paid jobs, now and for future generations.

We have reiterated the need for a National Health and Medical Research Strategy and for a research workforce plan to support this objective.

Research Australia’s submission is available here.

Changes to RBG formula opposed by Research Australia

Research Australia has opposed the Government’s proposal to alter the formulae for calculating Research Block grants to universities as a means of incentivising greater engagement with business. Research Block grants consist of two programs provided by the Department of Education. The Research Support Program provides funding to universities relative to the research revenue they receive from different sources: government, business, not for profits etc. The Research Training Program funds the stipends and research costs of students undertaking Masters Degrees by research and PhDs.

The Government has proposed increasing the proportion of funding tied to business research revenue and reducing the proportion of funding tied to other research revenue.

Research Australia has opposed this measure because the most recent data shows that business funded research increased by 15.5% between 2018 and 2020, and basic research (usually funded by governments and universities themselves declined by 11.3% over the same period. Research Australia is concerned that simply changing the formulae rather than providing more block grant funding will further reduce basic research at a time when business research funding is already increasing.

Read Research Australia’s submission here.

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 …..

 

 

 

 

 

University Research Commercialisation

The Australian Government is undertaking a scoping study to understand how to best implement a University Research Commercialisation Scheme to better translate and commercialise university research outputs. It has appointed an Expert Panel and issued a Discussion Paper.

Research Australia’s response to the Discussion Paper addresses the role of ‘Missions’, the use of stage-gating and the role of co-funding by Governments, universities and industry. It highlights the critical need to better align existing funding programs and fill the gaps to provide a more seamless approach to research funding from basic research through to commercialisation.

Research Australia’s submission is available here.

2021 Pre Budget submission calls for renewed investment in R&D

Research Australia’s Pre Budget submission to the Treasurer ahead of the 2021 Budget  focuses on the vital role of health and medical research and innovation in Australia’s  response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the manufacturing and innovation opportunities that health and medical research presents for Australia’s economic recovery.

It calls for renewed investment in R&D by the Australian Government, continued support for universities and medical research institutes with meeting indirect research costs, and measures to support medical products R&D and manufacture. The case for increasing NHMRC and ARC funding is also made. Funding for Government initiatives in data sharing and preventive health are among other measures sought.

Research Australia’s submission is available here.