Federal budget: nothing new for biotechnology

The federal budget, handed down on Tuesday night, makes no new commitments to science, with most of the money allocated simply honouring previous election promises.

"There is nothing in the budget that is new or unexpected," said Bradley Smith, executive director of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS).

Smith said that notably, the budget allocated $100 million over five years for environmental research, with $40 million being provided for a Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility for research relating to the Great Barrier Reef, tropical rainforests and coastal issues and $60 million being unspecified.

In relation to biotechnology, Smith said that "there is a pot of $70.5 million for dementia which includes research and a few other things."

Federal minister for ageing Julie Bishop recently announced a $52.2 million package which provides funds over four years for additional research, improved care and early intervention programs to care for people with dementia. The budget provides additional funding for these initiatives, bringing the total to $70.5 million over five years and extending funding to 2008-09.

Nicholas Gruen, the CEO of Lateral Economics, said that the budget could have been used to revive research and development in Australia.

"Research and development spending in Australia is a lower share of GDP than it was 10 years ago. That's from a situation where it was doubling every 4.5 years," he said. "That's a pretty disastrous outcome."

The budget could also have been used to make Australia a biotechnology centre, Gruen said. "It seems self-evident in biotechnology that you will do good things if you create an environment where people have the confidence to invest," he said.

As reported yesterday, the federal government did use the budget to confirm its 2004 election commitment to reviewing the venture capital industry in Australia. The announcement was welcomed by the industry.