◆ EDITORIAL
ADVOCATE
ISSN 1329-7295
All text & images ©NTEU 2022 unless otherwise stated
Matthew McGowan Alison Barnes Paul Clifton Anastasia Kotaidis, Helena Spyrou Published by National Tertiary Education Union Publisher Editor Production Manager Editorial Assistance
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PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia Feedback & advertising advocate@nteu.org.au
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Dr Alison Barnes, National President k abarnes@nteu.org.au
D @alisonbarnes25
Political interference threatens the future of Australian research In February, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced a $1.6 billion fund for manufacturing research. It was a slap in the face to talented academics across Australia, who perform vital work for the public good. It was also a worrying indicator of the future of research in this country. The 'Australian Economic Accelerator' program, which seeks to turn early-stage research ideas into commercial successes, confirms what we already knew from this Government: only research that aligns with its own priorities will be supported. The fine print in the plan is shocking. Institutions are being told they must rearrange their pay and promotion arrangements to favour commercially oriented researchers or they could miss out on research funding.
NTEU NATIONAL EXECUTIVE National President Alison Barnes General Secretary Matthew McGowan National Assistant Secretary Gabe Gooding Vice-President (Academic) Andrew Bonnell Vice-President (General Staff) Ruth Jelley A&TSI Policy Committee Chair Sharlene Leroy-Dyer National Executive: Nikola Balnave, Heather Benbow, Kate Berniz, Andrew Bonnell, Damien Cahill, Michael Callaghan, Vince Caughley, Lachlan Clohesy, Sam Green, Ruth Jelley, Andrea Lamont-Mills, Pat McConville, Michael McNally, Andrew Miller, Cathy Moore, Terri Mylett, Rajeev Sharma, Melissa Slee Advocate is available online free as a PDF and an e-book at nteu.org.au/advocate NTEU members may opt for ‘soft delivery’ of Advocate (email notification rather than printed version) at nteu.org.au/soft_delivery The plastic bags used for postage of Advocate to home addresses are 100% biodegradable. In accordance with NTEU policy to reduce our impact on the natural environment, Advocate is printed using vegetable based inks with alcohol free printing initiatives on FSC certified paper under ISO 14001 Environmental Certification.
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Obsession with commercialisation The Government is also planning to 'adjust' some $2 billion in existing university research funding and Research Block Grants processes – which is used to fund research training – to focus on commercialisation. Additionally, it plans to 'reform' core funding and grants processes managed by the Australian Research Council (ARC), in line with its commercialisation interests, and has stated that basic research – the fundamental, curiosity-driven research that is the seed of innovation and discovery – will need to be re-purposed so even this is oriented toward what are narrowly defined commercial interests. This over-emphasis on public funding that preferences commercial research over basic research could derail current research efforts and be detrimental to society in the future. Basic mRNA research led to the COVID-19 vaccines that have saved millions of lives. While it may appear the vaccines were
ADVOCATE VOL. 29 NO. 1 ◆ MARCH 2022
developed at record breaking speed, they were in fact the result of decades of curiosity driven research, undertaken by many thousands of scientists worldwide, including here in Australia. It was through the trial and error of these researchers that essential knowledge was gained and methods discovered that later made the rapid development of these innovative vaccines possible.
This over-emphasis on public funding that preferences commercial research over basic research could derail current research efforts and be detrimental to society in the future. Indeed, when Chinese and Australian scientists published the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence online on 10 January 2020, without commercial benefit to the researchers, it was because of decades of pure research into this family of viruses. The same basic research, which could help us battle future global health catastrophes, now risks extinction through the Government’s commercialisation obsession. It’s vital to remember the application of this style of research extends far beyond pandemics. Without support for curiosity driven, basic research, we wouldn’t have the innovations and discoveries that later created wi-fi, black box flight
