Please direct enquiries relating to requests for audit through our contact page.
The Auditor-General responded on 17 January 2022 to correspondence from the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP dated 20 December 2021, requesting that the Auditor-General conduct an investigation to examine the Australian Government’s administration of Australian Research Council grants.
17 January 2022
Tanya Plibersek MP
Shadow Minister for Education
Shadow Minister for Women
By email: Tanya.Plibersek.MP@aph.gov.au
Dear Ms Plibersek
Administration of the Australian Research Council grants
Thank you for your letter of 20 December 2021 requesting an audit of the Federal Government’s administration of Australian Research Council (ARC) grants.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) conducted an audit of the ARC’s grants administration, Auditor General Report No. 5 of 2019–20, Australian Research Council’s Administration of the National Competitive Grants Program, which found the ARC’s administration of the grants program to be effective.
I received a similar request for an audit of the ARC’s grants administration process from Senator Mehreen Faruqi on 27 September 2021, relating to the exclusion of applications for 2022 ARC research funding which cited pre-print publications. In responding to Senator Faruqi on 22 October 2021, I noted that the ARC had rescinded the exclusion of pre-print publications on 14 September 2021, and would progress as a matter of priority the appeals process for unsuccessful applicants. I considered that the ARC’s response to the issues raised by Senator Faruqi, the existing mechanisms for appeal, previous audit findings and other priorities for audit coverage across the public sector, did not warrant an audit during the 2021–22 Annual Audit Work Program.
Grant outcomes for the Linkage, and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities projects, were announced on 22 December 2021, and the Discovery Project grant outcomes were announced on 24 December 2021. While the outcomes of the ARC’s grants programs were announced later than usual, in considering your request for an audit, I have not identified any additional issues relating to ARC’s grants administration that would warrant prioritising such an audit above those already included in the ANAO’s Annual Audit Work Program 2021–22.
Yours sincerely
Grant Hehir
Mr Grant Hehir
Auditor-General
Australian National Audit Office
GPO Box 707
Canberra ACT 2601
Dear Auditor-General,
I request that the Australian National Audit Office consider auditing the Federal Government’s administration of Australian Research Council grants.
In our view, the Government’s unacceptable delay in announcing Australian Research Grants is a serious failure of public administration – a matter of national interest that bears further scrutiny.
With only seven working days left this year, researchers across the nation are yet to receive a decision about their 2022 Australian Research Grant applications.
We understand this is the longest delay in announcing these grants in thirty years.
This is causing significant uncertainty for around five thousand Australian researchers who don’t know whether they’ll have a job next year or whether their projects will have funding.
That is disaster for individual researchers and projects. It’s also a disaster for our nation – for our economy, and for jobs.
We fear many of our brilliant researchers will be driven overseas, or out of research altogether.
COVID-19 has already meant a very difficult two years for universities. It’s estimated that 7000 researchers have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic. The uncertainty created by the delay in announcing Australian Research Grants only compounds these difficulties.
New technologies and breakthroughs don’t come out of thin air. We need researchers to invent them. These discoveries will underpin the growth of local industries and create many jobs for Australians.
Thank you for considering my request.
Yours sincerely,
Tanya Plibersek