STATES GRANTS ( RESEARCH) BILL 1965
SECOND READING SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTE~ R, THE RIGHT HONPURABLE
SIR ROBERT MENZIES, Q_,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 12TH NOVEMBER, 1965
The purpose of this Bill is to establish machinery which
will enable grants to be made to the States for the benefit of
individual research projects of particular merit. Under the
authority of this measure the responsible Minister will have power
to approve Commonwealth grants to selected research workers in the
States, within the limits of the amounts of money appropriated by
the Parliament from time to time.
The Australian Government believes that in order to obtain
the best possible use of the funds which it, and where appropriate
the State Governments also, will provide for scientific research,
grants should be made for the direct benefit of selected research
activities which are-judged most likely to make a significant
contribution to the advancement of science and of scientific
knowledge in Australia. These special research grants will be
available to research workers in the universities and other
institutions, but not to those employed by government authorities.
However, the adoption of this method does not mean that other forms
of research will no longer receive Government support. For instance,
the Australian Universities Commission will be fre~ e to provide for
the needs of research in the sense of the training of postgraduate
students within its general recommendations for the support of the
universities. To decide which research project should be supported is
clearly a difficult task and one requiring expert knowledge.
Therefore, we established the Australian Research Grants Committee
under the Chairmanship of Professor R. N. Robertson to receive
applications, assess their relative merits, and select the most
worthy projects. The Committee, which comprises distinguished
representatives of the major fields of learning, has considered a
large number of applications and has recommended research grants in
various branches of science and learning, including in the humanities
and the social sciences.
Within the limit of the total sum of œ 2million nominated
for it, the Committee has recommended grants during 1965 and the
whole of 1966 to a total value of œ 1,848,875 of which the
Commonwealth will pay œ 932,214, assuming that each State provides
half of the amounts recommended for research workers in the
universities in that State. The distribution of these grants among
research workers in the various States is set out in a table which,
with the concurrence of Honourable Members, I will have incorporated
in Hansard. My colleague the Minister in Charge of Commonwealth
Activities in Education and Research has released the details of the
Committee's recommendations and has ahnounced that the Australian
Government accepts these recommendations. A statement setting out
the details has been distributed to Honourable Members.
The sum of k2million which was nominated for the Australian
Research Grants Committee, is the balance of a sum of œ Smillion which
the Australian Universities Commission in its Second Report recommended
should be provided by the Commonwealth and the States for research in
State universities during the 1964-1966 triennium. By agreement the
Commonwealth and the States are providing the other œ 3million for
general research training purposes during the triennium.
On this occasion almost all of the grants recommended are
for the benefit of research workers in State universities and the
Commonwealth stands ready to meet half the cost of such grants.
It is, of course, the prerogative of each State Government to decide
whether and, if so, to what extent, it will join with the Commonwealth
in matching the grants. While the States have known for some time
about this programme of support for special research projects and of
its financial implications, they could not know until the Australian
Research Grants Committee had framed its recommendations what the
financial commitment of each State would, in fact, be.
I am pleased to inform the House that the Governments of
five States have agreed to support the Committee's recommendations
in full. The Government of New South Wales is still considering its
position. This Bill gives general authority for the payment of special
research grants to research workers in the States who will be selected
under the procedures I have outlined. The Appropriation Bill ( No. 2)
1965/ 66 includes provision under Division No. 945.1 for the estimated
expenditure of œ 750,000 during the current financial year, on the
first series of special research grants.
I commend the Bill to the House.
States Grants ( Research) Bill, 1965
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH GRANTS COMMITTEE
Grants recommended for research workers in institutions in the States:
October, 1965
University of Sydney 352,362
University of New South Wales 190,988
University of New England 91,684
Newcastle University 28,825
Macquarie University 3,250
Total for New South Wales 667,109
University of Melbourne 266,303
Monash University 144,001
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute 15,003
Private project 550
Total for Victoria 425,857
University of Queensland 121,9518
Townsville University College 18,550
Total for Queensland 140,068
University of Adelaide 249,249
University of Adelaide at Bedford Park 47,810
Total for South Australia 297,059
University of Western Australia 189,833
University of Tasmania 101,949
1,821,875
Provision for Contingencies 27,000
1,848,875