‘Divisive’ academic grants based on ideology should not be funded by the public: IPA
Academic grants worth millions of dollars and paid for by the taxpayer have been slammed as failing to benefit the Australian public despite promises programs would be screened by a ‘National Interest Test’. SEE WHAT YOU’RE PAYING FOR
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Academic grants worth millions of dollars now have to meet a “National Interest Test” - but questions have been raised about whether some of the projects funded in the latest round actually provide any real benefit to ordinary Aussies.
According to an analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs, some of the most recent Australian Research Council grants include a number of obscure and esoteric academic projects, many based on overseas issues or identity politics, which will do little to improve the lives of taxpayers.
More than $90 million of taxpayer funds have been given out in the latest round, including projects to examine “Lao socialism”, “indigenous LGBITQ + creative artists” and “A Sonic Approach to Anti-Colonialism in Interwar India”.
In 2018 Education Minister Dan Tehan announced the new National Interest Test would apply to academics asking for money from the Australian Research Council.
“Introducing a National Interest Test will give the Minister of the day the confidence to look the Australian voter in the eye and say, ‘your money is being spent wisely’,” Mr Tehan said at the time.
But the IPA’s Foundations of Western Civilisation Program director Dr Bella d’Abrera, who has conducted an audit of $1.34 billion worth of taxpayer money handed out under the scheme over 17 years, questions how some of the latest beneficiaries meet the new test.
“It would certainly take someone of an exceptionally steely disposition to be able look the taxpayer in the eye and tell them that projects about ‘Lao socialism’, ‘Indigenous LGBITQ + creative artists’ or ‘A Sonic Approach to Anti-colonialism in Interwar India’ is their money wisely spent,” she said.
“The government needs to remember that it’s the public’s money.
“And I ask, are we getting value for money?”
“How do these projects help our lives - how do they benefit Australians?”
Some of the latest projects announced by Mr Tehan include:
* $1.01 million for “A Sonic Approach to Anti-Colonialism in Interwar India”. This will apply the methods of sound studies to the history of anti-colonialism in India and aims to “explicitly trace the reverberations of sound….in anti-colonial mobilisation in the interwar period.” One of the reasons it met the test was because it “will prove to be illuminating not only to understand Indian history, but the vibrancy of contemporary Indian politics, which continues to draw on rich traditions of orality longstanding traditions (sic) of singing and sloganeering”.
* $922,400 for an “Anthropology of procreation and parenting through ethnography of the Government of Laos’ Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health”. This will advance “understandings of Lao culture and society, socialism as it articulates with international health and economic agendas, and the anthropology of human flourishing (sic)”. One of the reasons it met the national test was because it “will advance knowledge of Lao cultural dynamics, which is important given Laos’ role in Australia’s region”.
* $1.05 million to eliminate sexual violence within the military. The project says it will provide an analysis of the rates, responses, and reporting of the issue in Australia, Canada, the US, and New Zealand “and identify potential gender bias within media coverage and policies that may limit public knowledge and responses”. One of the reasons the project meets the national test is because it: “…directly addresses the Australian government science and research priority of ‘health’.”
* $1.01 million for “Saving Lies: Mapping the influence of Indigenous LGBITQ + creative artists” which will use “queer and critical race theories and a positively-charged mapping of complex identities found in art and art-making”. One of the justifications to meet the national interest test was because it will “form a platform in which the voices and visibility of queer First Nations’ Peoples are amplified”.
“This is funding academics who are insisting on looking at everything through the lens of class, race and gender,” Ms d’Abrera said.
“The Coalition Government is supporting a divisive ideology which is contrary to tradition and to what mainstream Australians know is true and right.”
A spokesman for Mr Tehan said all applicants for the Australian Research Council funding “must address the National Interest Test requirement”.
“ARC grants are recommended to the minister after being independently peer reviewed by a panel of experts,” he said.
Originally published as ‘Divisive’ academic grants based on ideology should not be funded by the public: IPA