Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It was a very long question, and I would like to have the same amount of time to reply. Funding to support the national centre for this area, including epidemiology and population health, was provided through the Department of Health and Ageing. In 2010 the government provided research funding for the ANU through a range of sources, as I think Senator Milne outlined, including research block grants and the Australian Research Council’s competitive grants program, and this amounted to $139,000. The Australian government also supports research into infectious diseases directly through CSIRO. CSIRO spends approximately $73 million annually on these activities. CSIRO provides a Commonwealth vehicle for spending in this area of research and development. It is not the only area that we spent in, but I use it as a way of highlighting an example of where the Commonwealth does lead research in this area, does spend significant— (Time expired)