Sydney : Australian scientists have expressed disappointment over an AU$328.5 million cut to research funding that had been expected over the next four years.
In a budget update, the government announced that it will freeze funding increases for the programme that supports research, facilities, and training, including of PhDs, at universities. Funding for 2019 will stay the same as 2018, at AU$1.92 billion (US$1.4 billion), while the $2.17 billion budgeted for 2022 has been reduced to $2.05 billion for that year.
“These cuts are the wrong decision for Australia’s future — and they will rob Australians of life-saving treatments, research to help prevent floods and bushfires, and advances in almost every aspect of people’s lives,” said Catriona Jackson, the chief executive of Universities Australia, the peak body for universities, in a statement.
The research funding freeze comes as the government forecasts a budget surplus of AU$4.1 billion in 2019-2020 and $19 billion by 2021-22. In his announcement about the cost-cutting measures, education minister Dan Tehan said $350 million had been invested this year to support university students in regional and remote Australia.
Overall, government spending on research and development as a proportion of gross domestic product has been declining since the early 1990s. Funding for research and development is at its lowest point in 40 years, said John Shine, the president of Australian Academy of Science President, in a statement.
