Australian Politics Forum - Petition to protect medical research in the budget

James W

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Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Apr 16^th, 2011 at 1:00pm

Protect medical research in the May budget!

Please print out the petition from the Discoveries Need Dollars website and get as many signatures as you can!

Then mail the petition with signatures to arrive no later than Friday 29 April to:

Alice Robinson
c/o Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1G Royal Parade
Parkville
VIC 3052

The Honourable Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt will table the petition in parliament.

Thanks,
James

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Parannoyed

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #1 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 1:12pm

Will do that if I recover in time from having to actually agree with anything Brandt has his name on.

Maybe someone else has one going that I can sign up to. Wink

Can't help hoping this may be a red herring for something else they have in mind. I don't want to believe that even a government as incompetent as this one could contemplate cutting medical research. Shocked

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Pessimists are never disappointed.

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Ex Dame Pansi Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 24168	Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget Reply #2 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 3:23pm <<I don't want to believe that even a government as incompetent as this one could contemplate cutting medical research>> ......................................................... It is hard to believe, isn't it? Who on earth do they think would support such a move?
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vegitamite Ex Member	Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget Reply #3 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:04pm For the life of me this is one of the areas that I can NOT comprehend why the Labor government is stupid enough to do this - when 9 out of ten people would rather no surplus than cuts to research into health , it seems.
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Equitist

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #4 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:22pm

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some mischief making amongst certain research groups who haven't been performing particularly-well under current grants and fear that other researchers would be preferred for new grants in the next round of funding...

Besides, there is a difference between cutting existing funding levels and simply not maintaining an exponential funding increase trajectory...

I, for one, do not expect any nett cut in medical research funding - rather that some researchers won't enjoy the substantial annual funding increases upon which they have come to rely...

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James W

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #5 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:37pm

Equitist wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:22pm:

Besides, there is a difference between cutting existing funding levels and simply not maintaining an exponential funding increase trajectory...

I, for one, do not expect any nett cut in medical research funding - rather that some researchers won't enjoy the substantial annual funding increases upon which they have come to rely...

No, the threat is a lot more serious than that. Since March, senior government ministers have been quoted in Cabinet leaks, suggesting that $400 million dollars could be slashed from the NHMRC's $700 million budget over the next few years. See the News and Links page of the Discoveries Need Dollars website.

Cheers,
James

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Equitist

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #6 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 5:00pm

James W wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:37pm:

Equitist wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 4:22pm:

Besides, there is a difference between cutting existing funding levels and simply not maintaining an exponential funding increase trajectory...

I, for one, do not expect any nett cut in medical research funding - rather that some researchers won't enjoy the substantial annual funding increases upon which they have come to rely...

No, the threat is a lot more serious than that. Since March, senior government ministers have been quoted in Cabinet leaks, suggesting that $400 million dollars could be slashed from the NHMRC's $700 million budget over the next few years. See the News and Links page of the Discoveries Need Dollars website.

Cheers,
James

Which Senior Govt Ministers?

When and where was this leaked?

Who is behind the campaign?

I suspect that any purported 'cuts' would not come from the existing $750M budget - rather that there may be some cut into a projection of expected increased funding based on historical increases...

The claim is that there will be a 'cut' in spending of $400M over the next 3 years...

If the NMHRC (and those who rely upon it) had been banking on a funding increase of 10+% PA, then they might be in for some disappointment - but choosing not to incrementally increase an existing annual budget is not the same as cutting it...

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James W

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #7 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 6:34pm

Equitist wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 5:00pm:

I, for one, do not expect any nett cut in medical research funding

I certainly hope you're right. But if you are right, then why couldn't Penny Wong reassure listeners of Alan Jones' program on 2GB on Friday? The podcast is available to download - it's well worth listening to.

Quote:

Which Senior Govt Ministers?

Of course the name of the source wasn't revealed. Otherwise by definition it would be an "announcement", not a "leak". Often governments will intentionally leak ideas for budget cuts before making a final decision on the scale of the cuts in order to gauge public sentiment.

Quote:

When and where was this leaked?

As a new member of this forum, I don't think I'm allowed to post links. But you can find them in the News and Links section of the Discoveries Need Dollars website. Scroll down to the bottom to find the first published article citing the leaks:

14 March: An Adelaide Advertiser article "Brace for higher medicine costs" quotes a senior government figure as saying medical research is a "likely casualty" of federal budget cuts, with a $400 million cut to the NHMRC mooted.

Quote:

Who is behind the campaign?

The campaign was initiated by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. Now scientists right across the country have joined the protests, together with patients desperately seeking advances in vaccines, treatments and cures.

Quote:

I suspect that any purported 'cuts' would not come from the existing $750M budget - rather that there may be some cut into a projection of expected increased funding based on historical increases...

Any references discussing this further?

Quote:

The claim is that there will be a 'cut' in spending of $400M over the next 3 years...

If the NMHRC (and those who rely upon it) had been banking on a funding increase of 10+% PA, then they might be in for some disappointment - but choosing not to incrementally increase an existing annual budget is not the same as cutting it...

Ideally, the NHMRC budget should be increased - only 20% of medical research projects deemed worthy of funding can be funded under the current system. But a refusal to increase funding by 10+% would certainly be better than a cut!

Cheers,
James

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rzm123

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Re: Petition to protect medical research in the budget
Reply #8 - Apr 16^th, 2011 at 8:07pm

Having written to Mark Butler MP on this subject I received a rather disappointing reply which says 'The Government is facing an extremely difficult set of fiscal circumstance this year and any consideration of NHMRC funding will be undertaken as part of the budget process.' Not very reassuring and so far nobody has denied that research funding will not be cut. This is not a good sign.

We all need to pull together on this and lobby against funding being cut.

Rachael

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