ARC | Grant Funding Allocations

Question

Senator DAVID POCOCK: How can you not be investing less this year if 13 projects aren't going ahead and that money isn't being invested this year? Prof. Shergold: I will come back to you. All the money allocated each year that is going into allocation under our schemes will be spent, but it will not be spent in terms of that program-those four programs, incidentally, for which a number were identified by the minister. Senator DAVID POCOCK: But you can't say that you're spending all the money this year if there are 13 projects that aren't going ahead and you're not spending that money, can you? Mr Murfett: What we might do is take it on notice because the way that we allocate money is not necessarily per financial year. Each of the grants operate across a four to seven year horizon depending on the scheme. I think it's better to take it on notice and explain how the money is allocated each year. The way that the ARC allocates it is to ensure that, out of the billion dollars approximately that we have for grants, we expend the maximum amount that is available. We can take it on notice to step through how that process operates, because there's money allocated in previous years that works over multiple-year projects, and then the money that we allocate, say, in the rounds that we just announced won't come into effect for another year. There are a range of reasons that we make sure that money is allocated appropriately.

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000734.pdf (opens in a new tab)