Research and Science

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

Improved regional population estimates

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been provided with $2 million over four years to improve the accuracy of population estimates, including regional estimates. Funding will enable the ABS to explore and analyse administrative data sources that could be used to improve estimates of the usually resident population of state and territory regions. The ABS will also be able to examine better methods for producing inter-censal state and territory population estimates.

New Survey of Natural Resource Management

The ABS will be given $3.3 million over four years to conduct a new biennial Natural Resource Management (NRM) Survey. The NRM Survey will provide regional (statistical division) estimates of the main land and water management activities undertaken by Australia's farmers. Topics planned for the survey include weed management, the management of native vegetation and degraded areas as well as the factors that affect the ability of farmers to manage the environment. Results of the initial survey will be available at the end of 2006. The information from the survey will enable improved monitoring and evaluation of investments made under the Natural Heritage Trust, the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and the National Water Initiative as well as supporting State of the Environment reporting by the Commonwealth and State Governments.

CSIRO National Research Flagships

In addition to its core research activities, the Australian Government provided $20 million to CSIRO in 2003‑04 to establish six National Research Flagships. Additional funding for $305 million over seven years was announced in the context of the 2004–05 Budget, as part of Backing Australia’s Ability, Building our Future through Science and Innovation. Flagships are large-scale, multidisciplinary research partnerships designed to have national, fast-tracked impact in key areas of economic and community need. Their scale, longer timeframes and clear focus on delivery and adoption of research outputs are designed to maximise their impact.

The Flagships are closely aligned to the National Research Priorities and will deliver solutions to advance national objectives. Regional communities will benefit with approximately 20 per cent of CSIRO research infrastructure located in regional areas.

The six Flagships and their goals are:

Preventative Health — to help reduce healthcare costs and increase total economic benefit by enabling Australians to achieve an extra 10 years of productive and enjoyable life.
Food Futures — to transform the international competitiveness and add $3 billion of value to the Australian agrifood sector by applying frontier technologies to its largest industries.
Energy Transformed — to double the efficiency of the nation’s new energy production, to halve energy losses and to make Australia a world leader in cutting greenhouse emissions.
Water for a Healthy Country — to achieve a tenfold increase in the social, economic and environmental benefits from water use by 2025.
Leading the Light Metal Age — to help generate significant new export income, industries and enterprises for Australia by the 2020s by leading the global revolution in light metals.
Wealth from Australia Oceans — to build on Australia’s excellence in climate and ocean science to generate sustainable wealth from our marine resources.

Smart Moves Programme

Through funding provided in 2005-06 Budget, via the Backing Australia’s Ability initiative, Questacon continues to deliver the Smart Moves Programme to regional Australia. The aim is to raise secondary school students’ awareness of science and innovation and encourages involvement in science, maths, engineering and technology, especially in regional and rural areas.

The funding, over seven years, provides touring science outreach programmes to school, an annual Invention Convention and website material.

Australian Research Council

Research funded by the Australian Research Council advances the global knowledge and skills base leading to economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits for the Australian community.

A dedicated element of the ARC’s grants programme operates as an on-going scheme to address issues of concern and direct benefit to regional and rural areas. The Linkage Projects scheme supports collaborative research projects between higher education researchers and industry. Funding is allocated through a competitive grant assessment process with approximately 20 per cent of available Linkage Projects funding earmarked to support collaborative research on issues of benefit to rural or regional communities.

Cooperative Research Centres Programme

The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Programme supports research partnerships between the public sector (universities and government research agencies) and the private sector (firms and industry organisations). The programme emphasises the importance of collaborative arrangements to maximise the benefits of research through and enhanced process for utilisation, commercialisation and technology transfer. It also equips researchers with the skills needed to work in industry and improves private sector R&D.

Funding for the CRC programme is estimated at $208.2 million in 2005-06, $189.8 million in 2006-07 and $212.1 million in 2007-08. There are currently 12 CRCs based in regional centres and many other CRCs undertake research and development programmes that deliver benefits or outcomes for rural and regional Australia. Regional universities are active participants in many CRCs.

Results of the 2004 CRC round, for funding commencing in 2005-06, were announced in December 2004. Of the 16 successful applicants, at least half are based in regional centres or have regional applications, for example:

Australasian Invasive Animal CRC (ACT).
CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies (NSW).
Cotton Catchment Communities CRC (NSW).
e-Water CRC (ACT).
CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry (Qld).
CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding (Vic).
CRC for National Plant Biosecurity (ACT).
CRC for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (Tas).

Major National Research Facilities Programme

The Australian Government is funding 15 Major National Research Facilities. These facilities were selected in a competitive process and are funded over a period of five years. Funding under the MNRF Programme has been fully committed. The funding allocation for 2005–06 is $42.3 million.

Major National Research Facilities are expensive, large equipment items or highly specialised laboratories that are vital for conducting leading–edge research in science, engineering and technology. Four of these facilities are based in, or will deliver benefits to, regional Australia:

The International Livestock Resources and Information Centre based at Armidale.
The Australian Maritime Hydrodynamic Research Centre based in Launceston.
The Arafura — Timor Research Facility based in Darwin.
Provisor Pty Ltd (formerly the National Wine Industry Cluster) which is based in Adelaide and has nodes at Merbein, Victoria and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

The MNRF Programme aims to enhance access for Australian researchers to world-class, specialised facilities not otherwise available, increase opportunities for scientific research and development, attract overseas researchers and firms to Australia, and retain local talent.

Regional Protection Fund

The Regional Protection Fund was established in 2001, initially for four years, and has been extended through to 2007–08. The additional funding will maintain and build regional universities' research capabilities, ensuring that they can continue to conduct competitively funded research which is of benefit to regional Australia and more broadly. The budget over extra years (2004–08) will be limited to $3 million annually (adjusted for cost increases).