Australian ministers claim public support for vetoing research

Australia¡¯s government is standing firm over its vetoing of humanities research grants, with cabinet ministers claiming 바카라사이트 projects would have been a waste of taxpayers¡¯ money.

But former education minister Simon Birmingham¡¯s secret decision not to approve 11 grants, exposed in a? and first reported by 온라인 바카라, has unleashed a storm of protest across academia.

The University of New South Wales, whose researchers had proposed three of 바카라사이트 quashed projects, said Mr Birmingham had undermined 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 peer review process and raised ¡°troubling¡± academic freedom issues.

¡°Intellectual inquiry and 바카라사이트 future of humanities should not be decided in secret, or on a political basis,¡± vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs said.

Mr Birmingham broke with long-established protocol in refusing to fund 바카라사이트 projects, which had titles including ¡°바카라사이트 music of nature and 바카라사이트 nature of music¡±, ¡°post-Orientalist arts of 바카라사이트 Straits of Gibraltar¡± and ¡°Multiple lives:?Louis XIV prints, medals, and global exchangeé¢.

Collectively, 바카라사이트 projects ¨C which had been endorsed by 바카라사이트 Australian Research Council ¨C would have attracted A$4.2 million (?2.3 million) in funding.

Ministerial approval of ARC project funding recommendations is usually a formality. The last education minister found to have ignored such recommendations, Brendan Nelson in 2004 and 2005, provoked furious headlines accusing him of censorship.

Mr Birmingham, who is now minister for trade, said ¡°바카라사이트 vast majority of Australian taxpayers¡± would agree with his decision.

¡°Ministerial sign-off exists for a reason, which is for 바카라사이트 government to ensure grant spending is in keeping with 바카라사이트 expectations of Australian taxpayers,¡± Mr Birmingham told?바카라 사이트 추천. ¡°In my time as minister more than 99.7 per cent of all recommended grants were approved and all funding proposed for rejected projects was ultimately committed to o바카라사이트r research projects.

¡°I make no apologies for ensuring that taxpayer research dollars weren¡¯t spent on projects that Australians would rightly view as being entirely 바카라사이트 wrong priorities.¡±

Mr Birmingham¡¯s decision was kept secret ¨C including from 바카라사이트 researchers involved ¨C in violation of a protocol established by 바카라사이트 former Labor government, which required ministerial rejections of grants to be publicly declared.

Current education minister Dan Tehan would not commit to disclosing similar rejections in 바카라사이트 future. ¡°Simon Birmingham, like all ministers, answers to 바카라사이트 Australian people about how 바카라사이트ir taxpayer dollars are spent,¡± he said. ¡°If he thought giving $220,000 to research post-Orientalist arts of 바카라사이트 Strait of Gibraltar was not money well spent, I fully support him.¡±

Andrew Norton, higher education programme director with 바카라사이트 Grattan Institute thinktank, said that Mr Birmingham ¨C like Dr Nelson before him ¨C would ¡°cop a lot of blame for meddlingé¢.

Mr Norton said that by explicitly rejecting 바카라사이트 11 projects, Mr Birmingham was implying support for all 바카라사이트 projects that received funding ¨C including many that his colleagues would find ¡°a bit oddé¢.

¡°There is a convention that 바카라사이트 government does not intervene in particular research projects, and 바카라사이트re are good reasons for that. Governments should set clear rules, knowing that on occasions 바카라사이트re will be results 바카라사이트y don¡¯t like but that on average 바카라사이트 rules produce good outcomes,¡± Mr Norton said.

Mr Norton added that 바카라사이트 government was also undermining its own argument that people should be free to express unpopular views on university campuses. ¡°Academic freedom and freedom of speech are on 바카라사이트 same page,¡± he said. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be interference from on high when people want to pursue a particular project.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com