CRCs’ Calamitous $33 Million Chop

11-May-2011

Another day, another example of Innovation Minister Kim Carr’s dizzying contradictions on innovation, industry and science policies.

A Minister who once said that Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) were “a pillar of the Australian innovation system” has now ripped yet another hole in the budget for the program with a $33 million cut. 

This is short sighted policy from a Minister who also once waxed lyrical about research collaboration being “vital to a healthy innovation system”, declared that “unlike some other elements of the innovation system, (the) sustainability (of CRCs) has never been in question” and praised the “enduring beauty” and extraordinary success of the CRC program.

The CRC program has been actively supported on a bipartisan basis for two decades – but Mr Carr’s previous cuts have already reduced the program to a rump, comprising only 1 per cent of the Government’s R&D spend.

From 70 operational CRCs under the Howard Government, the number has already shrunk to 42 under Labor and these latest cuts will inevitably reduce the figure even further.

According to Tony Peacock of the CRC Association:

“for regional Australia the forestry, beef, cotton, invasive animals, national plant biosecurity and eWater CRCs already had a massive hill to climb if they wanted to continue their work but now we’ll be lucky to get even one of these up”.

“The idea of encouraging more productive Australian research and collaboration through a longstanding, successful, internationally-envied model apparently holds little interest for Mr Carr any more,” said Shadow Innovation Minister Sophie Mirabella.

“It’s no surprise that he has indicated to organisers of next week’s annual CRC Association Conference that he now won’t be attending – because it’s obvious that he’d rather go into hiding than front up and try to justify the unjustifiable methods behind more of his policy madness.”