The Australian Government's Innovation Report

CHAPTER 3: National research priorities
The Prime Minister announced Australia’s National Research Priorities (NRPs) in December 2002 to focus
Australia’s research effort in areas that deliver significant social, economic or environmental benefits to Australia.
The priorities are broadly based, thematic and multi-disciplinary in scope and draw on many fields of research.
They are:
• An Environmentally Sustainable Australia;
• Promoting and Maintaining Good Health;
• Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries; and
• Safeguarding Australia.
Australian Government research agencies and funding bodies implement the priorities by directing additional
resources to the priority areas to achieve greater scale and by exploring opportunities for collaboration.
An NRP Standing Committee has been established to assess the progress of Australian Government agencies
in implementing the NRP’s, to advise on progress or areas requiring improvement, and to report to the Australian
Government. Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Jim Peacock, chairs the committee. Other members include
Professor Henrique d’Assumpcao, Mr Terry Enright, Associate Professor Bob Beeton, Professor Suzanne
Cory, Professor Susan Rowley, Professor Brian Anderson and Professor Edwina Cornish.
The Committee over the next 12 months will further assess the progress of agencies in their implementation
of the priorities before reporting to the Australian Government.
The NRP’s have already had a positive impact in relation to the design and implementation of the Australian
Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). NCRIS will ensure that
Australia’s investment in research infrastructure is well targeted to enhance the science and innovation system’s
contributions to economic development, national security, social well-being and environmental sustainability.
Chapter 2, Part 1 provides more information on the NCRIS initiative.
This chapter examines some of the progress of Australian Government agencies in implementing the NRP’s in
2005-06. More information on the NRPs is available at: www.dest.gov.au/priorities.
PRIORITY 1 – An environmentally sustainable Australia
Water – a critical resource
Sewage and waste water treatment: The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
has developed innovative technology to make sewage and waste water clean enough to drink and to do it
inexpensively.
The newly patented technology could cut water use by 60% through a revolutionary membrane bioreactor that
eats waste matter and breathes air.
The self-perpetuating technology is cheap and can be used in a variety of sizes for houses, unit complexes or municipal
treatment plants. ANSTO made a working model the size of a fridge freezer that can be used in a house to recycle
waste. The secret of this technology is in the unique membrane.
Chapter 3 - National research priorities 93