Minister Tightens the Reins on the ARC. (July 15, 2005)

    It was about as close to a sure thing that could be imagined. On July 6 TFW reported on "Two Year Old 'Review of the Corporate Governance of Statutory Authorities and Office Holders' Surfaces to Disquiet the Australian Research Council." We wrote,

    As [Dorothy Illing of the Australian] points out "The Uhrig Review recommended that ministers and their departments assess each of the statutory authorities within their portfolios against two templates - an executive management model and a board model," and "governance boards should only be used where they can be given the full power to act. Although the ARC has a board model, the board does not have full power to act independently of the minister: Dr Nelson must sign off on its recommendations for research grants."

    Clearly the hybrid condition in which the ARC finds itself goes against Uhrig's Recommendation 3. Would Dr Nelson as the Minister for Education, Science and Training be prepared to relinquish his current power of final say?

    Not bloody likely; remember when last year he vetoed the ARC's giving of  three grants in the humanities and social sciences.

Today the Minister for Education, Science and Training announced,

    The Australian Government endorsed Mr Uhrig’s report and decided that some 170 portfolio bodies would be assessed by their respective Ministers. The ARC was one of the first bodies to be assessed.
    The functions of the ARC are best suited to the executive management template developed by Mr Uhrig and, as a result, I have decided to strengthen its arrangements so that it is fully consistent with this model. The existence of a board is inconsistent with the executive management model and I have therefore decided to retire the ARC Board by early 2006.

The Minister then informs us that this is a good thing because,

The revised arrangements will retain the ARC’s independence and expedite the ARC’s funding processes. This will provide greater certainty to researchers about the future of their ARC funding and allow the ARC to respond quickly and flexibly to emerging priorities. The ARC, under the guidance of CEO Professor Peter Høj, will retain its vital peer review processes and the College of Experts will continue to be a vital source of independent advice to Government.

And Professor Høj won't have to worry about dealing with a board anymore, he'll only report to the Minister.

The nation's researchers can decide if they believe the increased ease with which the Minister will be able to manipulate the ARC will be a good thing. It would be even better if the nation's voters were also to consider whether or not it was a good thing..

Happy ides of July, ARC.