The Australian Science and Technology Council (ASTEC), which reports to Prime Minister Bob Hawke, said in its report that research at Australian universities is hampered by limitations on flexibility, diffusion of effort and lack of discretionary funding. As a partial solution, it recommends the creation of an Australian Research Council, which would combine the Australian Research Grants Scheme (ARGS) and four smaller government funding schemes.
The agencies that would be combined in the new body now spend about $50 million Australian ($35 million U.S.). ASTEC proposed an annual research council budget of $93 million in current dollars, to be obtained by boosting spending by $20 million in 1987-88 and adding annual increments of $10 million to $15 million in each of the next three years.
The report by ASTEC, an advisory group of 13 part-time advisers from academia, industry and labor unions, said spending on university research in Australia totaled ...
