[ASA] ARC Amendment (Ensuring Research Independence) Bill 2018

[John Lattanzio]

Dear ASA Members
     On 9 February 2022, the Senate referred the Australian Research
Council Amendment (Ensuring Research Independence) Bill 2018 to the Senate
Education and Employment Legislation Committee (the committee) for inquiry
and report by 15 March 2022.

This bill seeks to remove the ability of the Minister to veto proposals
recommended for funding by the ARC. Information on the bill is available
here
<https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ARCBill>
.

Submissions were requested by the Committee, and all submitted documents
are viewable here
<https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ARCBill/Submissions>
(the ASA submission is number 23).

An open letter from members of the ARC College of Experts (two of whom
resigned as a result of the recent vetoes) is available here
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/rnoGC6XQ4Lfr5klLlTpQJkl?domain=aidansims.com>.

Prof Marcus Foth <m.foth at qut.edu.au> has volunteered to be the principal
petitioner on a *federal petition to the House of Representatives*. The
petition’s rationale and requests are based on the open letter
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/rnoGC6XQ4Lfr5klLlTpQJkl?domain=aidansims.com> referred to above. The petition
is available for signature online until midnight 16 March 2022.

I encourage you to please sign the petition
<https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN3949> and share it with your
colleagues.

(You will receive a confirmation email with a link you’ll need to click in
order for your vote to be counted.)

 Note that it will take *a large number of signatures *for the petition to
have any impact on MPs. Please forward this link to any who might be
supportive.

   Best wishes to all

        John Lattanzio

-- 
*I'm an LGBTIQ Ally**      -     Find out more at **https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/OH4lC71R2NTADMjGjFWYf28?domain=monash.edu
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Professor John Lattanzio
President, Astronomical Society of Australia

School of Physics and Astronomy
Monash University Victoria 3800 AUSTRALIA

Ph:  +61 (0)3 9905-4428
WWW: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/X9E5C91WPRTkGnV4VuOEZIo?domain=users.monash.edu.au <https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/zBO4C0YKPviG1v0N0cOVCTT?domain=maths.monash.edu.au>
https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/WJ2VCgZ0N1iAM65E5F7P2Ax?domain=orcid.org

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