A threat to academic independence

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a major conduit for the Australian governments expenditure on research. Proposed legislation sets out to abolish the board of the ARC and place many of the powers of the board directly in the hands of the Minister. This places in jepody the independence and autonomy of the ARC, and by implication Australia's academic community. This is part of a trend of the current government to micro-manage higher education, which has so far resulted in higher student fees, attacks on student unionism, and numerous increases in arduous accountability and bureaucratic reporting. It reveals the mistrust the current administration has in intellectuals and an unhealthy wish to meddle in the details of higher education activities where the government responds with knee jerk reactions and rhetoric. The one good outcome of this governments policy has been the increased research funding in recent years, but the governments ability to manage, rather than meddle, in the application of those funds is now going well beyond the setting of popularist National Research Priorities. At least Senator Natasha Stott Despoja aims to fight this encroachment, stating:

"The ARCs reputation, already tainted by the intervention of the previous Minister, is once again being exposed to the threat of additional intervention through the provisions of this legislation... I will be moving amendments to ameliorate the most concerning aspects of this bill when it is debated in the Senate."

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