An elite group of Australian business leaders is pressuring the Federal Government to push ahead with plans for the Medical Research Future Fund – with or without the controversial $7 Medicare co-payment unveiled in this year’s federal budget.
The co-payment was designed to help pay for the $20 billion medical research fund. But its passage now appears increasingly unlikely.
The members of the Medical Research Future Fund Action Group say Canberra must find the money regardless.
Goldman Sachs Australia investment banking chairman Alastair Lucas, a founding member of the action group, said the future fund is a medical and business opportunity that cannot be missed.
“The number of success stories out of business are extraordinary, coming directly from initially government-funded medical research,” he said
Members of the action group are well connected, particularly in banking and finance.
They have so far taken their message to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Health Minister Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer, amongst others.
Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford, who is also a member of the action group, said so far the players in Canberra are listening.
“I’m not a politician,” he said. “I can’t judge with any confidence. I think there’s recognition about the importance of it.”
Action group member Harold Mitchell, chairman of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, pointed out in a recent op-ed that the Australian Government’s investment in research has dropped to its lowest level since 1984.
Australia, he said, now ranks 18th of 20 advanced economies – ahead of Greece and the Slovak Republic – for government research spending as a share of GDP.
Mr Clifford said securing a commitment for $20 billion in funding is essential, because it would then free medical researchers from being beholden to ups and downs of the political cycle.
“Somehow or other it’s got to be funded. There’s a lot competing for that funding,” he said.
“That’s something for the Government of the day and the politicians to wrestle with.”
At his home in Melbourne, Mr Lucas has more than just the Medical Research Future Fund to consider.
Not long after he founded the group, he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
“Has it changed my view on medical research? No, it hasn’t changed my view on medical research,” he said.
“I thought medical research was absolutely essential for our society before that happened, and I still feel the same.”