News in Science

Budget: 'Mixed and confusing messages for Australian science'

Budget snapshot The Australian scientific community suffered new cuts in last night's Federal budget, in the wake of last year's cuts.

And while there are some small wins for the sector, there is concern about the government using a 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' strategy.

According to Science & Technology Australia (STA), there will be a $300 million cut from the Sustainable Research Excellence program, which helps meet the indirect costs of university research.

This cut will fund the $300 million given over two years to the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), which funds 27 research facilities across the country, says Catriona Jackson of STA.

A long-term funding solution from NCRIS is yet to be established.

"Plugging the gap in the meantime by taking the funds away from the very people who use the world-leading facilities is counterproductive," says Jackson.

"There are some mixed and confusing messages here for Australian science," she adds.

"Extracting the NCRIS funds from the rest of the research community is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is a bad result for science and for research more broadly."

Professor Andrew Holmes of the Australian Academy of Science agrees.

"Cutting block grants to researchers in universities is like taking engines off the jumbo jet. You need to fund the scientists as well as the tools they need to do their work, it can't be one or the other. NCRIS needs a long-term sustainable funding model."

Other measures

While the budget provides extra funding to support Antarctic science, and for ANSTO to deal with radioactive waste and keep the Synchrotron operating in 2016/17, the Co-operative Research Centres have suffered further.

Jackson from STA laments the $26.8 million cut from the CRC program over four years -- on the back of last year's $80 million in cuts.

"The Government's review of the program, announced last September, has yet to be handed down. CRCs are models of industry and research collaboration. Surely a major review should at least be considered before decisions about funding are made."

She and other commentators are pleased that the massive Medical Research Future Fund -- the centrepiece of last year's science and health budget -- will be operational by 1 August this year, and there is $15.3 million over four years to support research on exotic disease threats to Australia and surrounds.

But the Australian Medical Association is concerned that a review of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a "budget savings exercise", and the Public Health Association highlights a lack of support for preventative health care.

There is no significant news in the budget for the Australian Research Council, the NHMRC, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the CSIRO, and the Rural Research and Development Corporations.

And STA understands the Future Fellow scheme for mid and early career research stars will be going ahead.

Related: 2014 Budget lacks 'strategic vision' for science

Budget 2015: Full coverage on ABC News