George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I find myself in agreement with the wisdom of Senator Abetz on all matters, Senator Carr, which is more than can be said for your attitude to your frontbench colleagues. Nevertheless, let me inform the honourable senator of the following matters concerning Australian weed management.

The Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management’s bid for a further seven years of funding from July 2008 has, I can inform the senator, not been successful. It will continue to commission research until June 2008. The weeds CRC, which has received $33 million in funding in two previous CRC rounds, has undertaken important research and development which is helping to tackle one of Australia’s most significant natural resource management issues—namely, weeds.

It is estimated that weeds cost the Australian economy $4 billion annually. It is thought that they are costing the environment a similar amount, but this is very difficult to quantify. Whilst I acknowledge that this is a very difficult job in deciding on successful candidates, I am very disappointed at the decision, as there is significant research required to tackle the issue. I am aware that the Productivity Commission, in a recent draft report, Public support for science and innovation, criticised the criteria for determining which applications for CRC funding are successful.