Tony Abbott plans to cut ‘wasteful’ research grants

By Geoff Maslen. Australia's new Prime Minister Tony Abbott, elected in a landslide victory in Saturday’s election, has promised to reverse many of the policies implemented by the defeated Labor government over the past six years – including those intended to lessen the impact of climate change. Abbott created a storm of controversy in the academic and scientific communities last week with a plan to cut grants to research considered ‘wasteful’ by his conservative government. His new ‘commission of audit’ would reprioritise nearly A$100 million (US$91 million) of annual Australian Research Council, or ARC, grants allocated to what members of his team have called “futile” research, and reallocate the money to the National Health and Medical Research Council to spend on research into diseases such as dementia. More...