Key policy pledges:
– Establishment of a “virtual” international centre of research dedicated to the reduction of on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, funded to the tune of $20 million a year.
– Boost funding within Vote RS&T for primary sector and food research by $25 million a year.
– Boost funding for research consortia in the primary and food sectors by $25 million a year.
– Shut down the newly established Fast Forward Fund (though it is open to continuing projects already under way).
– Reduce the size of the recently introduced R&D tax credit to 10% from 15% and use the resulting savings to boost funding for research and science by $315 million in the next three years.
– Funding will go into research at both universities and CRIs, by being split 50:50 between: – An increase to the Performance Based Research Fund, Marsden Fund, and Health Research Council funding allocations and the creation of a new secure funding allocation system and “secure funding” for CRIs.
– Investigate options for reducing compliance costs and unnecessary bureaucracy within the science system.