The head of a top Australian university says political interference in the awarding of research grants is an "existential threat" to the sector.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In his state of the university address on Monday, Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt referenced acting federal Education Minister Stuart Robert's decision to veto several projects recommended for grant funding by the independent Australian Research Council.
The decision was announced on Christmas Eve and has been criticised by academics.
Professor Schmidt, a Nobel Prize winner, says both major political parties have been guilty of political interference in the grants process which can "corrupt knowledge".
"My strong view - a view held by many university leaders, whether they say it out loud or not - is Australia needs an apolitical system to allocate research funding and a review of the Australian Research Council," he said.
"(The ARC) is so foundational to our future and the nation's future and it's clearly not working."
The projects vetoed by the acting minister were all in the humanities and included research on climate and China.
A spokesman for Mr Robert would not comment on Prof Schmidt's calls for an ARC review and instead referred to previous comments on the matter.
"In making his decision on rejecting six of the 593 projects, the minister believes those rejected do not demonstrate value for taxpayers' money nor contribute to the national interest," the spokesman said.
"After going through a peer review process, it is clear to the minister the application of the national interest test is not working in every case. The minister asked the ARC to strengthen the test."
On Monday, the Australian Greens announced an attempt to establish a Senate inquiry into the approval process for research grants.
The Greens first called for new laws to remove ministerial discretion in the approval of grants recommended by the ARC in 2018.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi says researchers and universities are "fed-up" with ministerial veto powers.
"By hearing from university communities, academics, researchers and unions, the Senate will be forced to confront the real-world, damaging impact the veto has," she said.
"Political interference has no place in research funding."
Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says a request for the national audit office to consider the government's administration of ARC grants was denied in January.
"The role of the Minister for Education should be to ensure that the ARC's grant processes are rigorous, fair and transparent, and that the ARC has competent leadership and is functioning well," she said in a letter to academics.
"The independent agency should then be allowed to do its work without political interference."
Ms Plibersek says a Labor government would approve all ARC grant applications recommended by the peer review process that meet the application conditions.
ANU Chancellor and former Liberal frontbencher Julie Bishop supports Prof Schmidt's calls for an apolitical grant process.
"I publicly and openly endorse the vice-chancellor's comments about an apolitical process in the field of research and the ARC in particular," she said in her address to the university.
"We must be academically engaged but we must also be intellectually self-sufficient in generating ideas in and for a distinctly Australian context."
Prof Schmidt says academic autonomy allows universities to research a broad spectrum of ideas.
"We don't just focus on what is known or thought relevant or acceptable at the time," he said.
"The impetus here for the university is to resist the restrictions of the present and focus confidently on the future."
Australian Associated Press
