State opposition pledges $100m bailout for struggling medical research sector

The state’s foundering medical research institutes would be in for a $100 million windfall if the Coalition wins the November election, after an investigation by this masthead revealed existential financial problems across the sector.

Victoria’s 14 independent medical research institutes are under serious financial pressure after years of flat federal funding for science, coupled with sharp increases in the cost of doing research.

The Hudson Institute of Medical Research became the first domino to fall in September, announcing plans to merge with Monash University. Insiders have described the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health’s business plan as “doomed”.

In total, 10 of 14 centres will be forced to close by 2030 if their finances do not improve, the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI) has estimated.

To deal with the impending cash crunch, the association has been campaigning for a lift in state government funding for the sector – from $48 million a year to $95 million.

State Opposition Leader Jess Wilson will announce on Thursday plans for a major cash injection into the sector if she wins government: $100 million in extra support, to be paid over four years.

“Victoria must continue to be the medical research capital of Australia. But after 12 years of Labor, the industry is at risk of losing its brightest minds, highly skilled jobs, and the investment that should be coming to Victoria,” Wilson said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said: “Labor’s failure to provide long-term funding certainty is putting this industry and the jobs of the future at risk.”

The extra money would bring total state government support for the research institutes to about $60 million a year, said Michelle Marven, executive officer of AAMRI’s Victorian branch.

“This will absolutely put us on the pathway to sustainability for the sector. We really welcome this announcement. It’s not the full amount we had been asking for, but it’s a step in the right direction,” she said.

“It will really help to address the financial pressures facing our institutes, and will provide really incredible additional support for the sector.”

Australia’s spending on research as a share of GDP is in long-term decline, even as other advanced economies invest more heavily in science.

But the bigger problem for Victoria’s research institutes is the rising cost of their work.

Taxpayer-funded research grants are the lifeblood of medical research institutes. But as the cost of doing science has increased, those grants are not enough to cover the cost of the ground-breaking work they are supposed to facilitate.

“It is a high-priority, highly valued sector,” Burnet Institute director Brendan Crabb said in September. “What we have is an underfunded, short-term, fragmented funding system that does not match that attitude.”

Victorian Minister for Medical Research Anthony Carbines said in September that the state government had increased funding by $24.6 million over two years to support the state’s research institutes.