Political interference in research grants poses an “existential threat” to universities, the Australian National University vice-chancellor has warned.
On Monday Prof Brian Schmidt said he was “dismayed” that the education minister had interfered in the awarding of Australian Research Council grants before Christmas, and took aim at both major parties for backing the power to override independent recommendations.
On Christmas Eve the acting minister, Stuart Robert, revealed that the government had nixed six grants for proposed research relating to climate activism and China, prompting a widespread backlash from academics.
In his state of the university address, Schmidt said there had only been “four known occurrences of political interference” in the Australian Research Council grant process – three of which were in the last three years.
“As things stand, both major parties agree it is appropriate for the minister to wield this power,” he said. “Political interference has bipartisan support. I see this as an existential threat to Australian universities.
“My strong view, a view held by many university leaders, whether they say it out loud or not, is Australia needs an apolitical system to allocate research funding and a review of the Australian Research Council.”
Schmidt said political interference “can corrupt knowledge and slow down its creation” argued that academic independence is “one of democracy’s key advantages over other forms of governments”.
“[It] allows us to pursue ideas across a broad spectrum of possibilities. We don’t just focus on what is known or thought relevant or acceptable at the time.”
Schmidt asked: “What would our society be like when the study of history, politics and literature has to reflect the views of the minister of the day?
“Where would we be if we hadn’t been working on climate mitigation strategies for the past 30 years while the merchants of doubt sowed their seeds?
“What if we hadn’t invested in understanding the foundational properties of messenger RNA when it seemed just a dalliance with no practical benefits?”
A petition with nearly 1,500 signatories, including those of high-profile authors JM Coetzee, Michelle de Kretser, Alexis Wright and Amanda Lohrey, has called for Robert “to reinstate the defunded projects and commit to legislating the complete independence of the ARC from government interference and censorship”.
In 2018 the Coalition government vetoed 11 grants in the humanities approved by the Australian Research Council on topics including legal secularism, and gender norms in China.
In the speech Schmidt revealed that the ANU had run a surplus in 2021 due to a “better than expected result” because of one-offs including insurance payments, government research support and investment gains, alongside a “substantial amount” from unfilled positions.
He committed to fill the positions, despite acknowledging this would result in deficits in 2022 and 2023.
“We are still likely to need to take on debt over the coming years but I remain confident we will not have to make any more cuts,” he said. “We are leaner, but not meaner.”
