The Australian Research Council states Education Minister Jason Clare informed the Parliament last Thursday he had nixed funding for 13 applications, tabling a document on his actions.
The Minister is obliged to advise Parliament when he uses the national interest veto, in place as part of reforms recommended in Margaret Sheil’s ’23 review of the ARC’s Act.
ARC announced yesterday the no-goes were “for reasons relevant to the security, defence or international relations of Australia” but did not add whether any projects had passed Council’s approval process. Six were for 2026 Discovery grants, five were for 2025 Linkage Grants and one was for funding from the Linkage infrastructure program.
The announcement follows media coverage of ARC funding of previous projects involving Iranian scientists – replacing Chinese academics, who previously attracted attention but the new ministerial vetoes apply to new projects. Be interesting to read the National Interest Test statements in the now-vetoed applications.
Mr Clare was universally-acclaimed by the research establishment when he ended Ministerial approval of ARC endorsed applications, a process used sparingly by previous culture-warring coalition ministers – but he kept veto rights for security risks.