Antinuclear

 $111m was cut from the CSIRO over the forward estimates.

Funding cuts were also slated for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ($27.5m) and the Australian Institute for Marine Science ($7.8m). The Australian Research Council, which funds much basic research, particularly outside the biomedical sphere, receives a $75m cut over the forward estimates.

Unfortunately, the long-feared cuts to the Cooperative Research Centres did eventuate. Funding for CRCs will be frozen from current funding levels of $148m, and by 2017-18 will decline to $138m, a considerable cut in real terms. The government says that it will save about $124m over the forward estimates by crimping funding for the CRCs and axing the Clean Technology Innovation Program. Still, given the recommendations of the Commission of Audit, many in the sector may be pleased that the program escaped abolition altogether……..

Also being abolished, as foreshadowed, is the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The government will save $1.3bn by killing off the clean tech innovation fund, which has acted to support renewable energy projects in their start-up and early stages.

Overall, the science budget represents a clear change in the government’s priorities. Biomedical research is a big winner. Anything that isn’t medical research has suffered.

Environmental programs in particular have been targeted. It’s almost as though the government went looking for programs that featured the words “clean”, “green” or “renewable”. http://www.theguardian.com/world/australia-news-blog/2014/may/13/mixed-bag-for-science-in-joe-hockeys-first-budget