The head of a top Australian university says political interference in the awarding of research grants is an "existential threat" to the sector.
In his state of the university address on Monday, Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt referenced acting federal Education Minister Stuart Robert's decision to veto several projects recommended for grant funding by the independent Australian Research Council.
The decision was announced on Christmas Eve and has been criticised by academics.
Professor Schmidt, a Nobel Prize winner, says both major political parties have been guilty of political interference in the grants process and can "corrupt knowledge".
"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," he said.
"(The ARC) is so foundational to our future and the nation's future and it's clearly not working."
The projects vetoed by the acting minister were all in the humanities and included research on climate and China.
On Monday, the Australian Greens announced an attempt to establish a Senate inquiry into the approval process for research grants.
The Greens first called for new laws to remove ministerial discretion in the approval of grants recommended by the ARC in 2018.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi says researchers and universities are "fed-up" with ministerial veto powers.
"By hearing from university communities, academics, researchers and unions, the Senate will be forced to confront the real-world, damaging impact the veto has," she said.
"Political interference has no place in research funding."
Meanwhile, ANU Chancellor and former Liberal frontbencher Julie Bishop supports Prof Schmidt's calls for an apolitical grant process.
"I publicly and openly endorse the vice-chancellor's comments about an apolitical process in the field of research and the ARC in particular," she said in her address to the university.
"We must be academically engaged but we must also be intellectually self-sufficient in generating ideas in and for a distinctly Australian context."
Prof Schmidt says academic autonomy allows universities to research a broad spectrum of ideas.
"We don't just focus on what is known or thought relevant or acceptable at the time," he said.
"The impetus here for the university is to resist the restrictions of the present and focus confidently on the future."
