Education minister Simon Birmingham tells Senate estimates the decision was taken by his predecessor Christopher Pyne

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The federal government has withdrawn funding offered to Bjørn Lomborg for the creation of the Australia Consensus centre in any university, the education minister, Simon Birmingham, has announced.

Officials confirmed the decision was made by the former minister, Christopher Pyne, on 17 September, just days after Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott as prime minister but before the ministerial reshuffle.



The education minister was asked in Senate estimates on Wednesday whether $4m Commonwealth funding for the project had been withdrawn.



“Correct, senator Carr,” Birmingham said.



The Greens senator Robert Simms pressed Birmingham on the matter.

“So the money is off the table?”

“Correct, senator Simms,” Birmingham said.

Birmingham took the reins as education minister from Pyne. “The previous minister, Mr Pyne, did make a determination that this proposal was unlikely to enjoy success, and that the funds could be better utilised elsewhere,” Birmingham told the committee.

Bjørn Lomborg's $4m centre rejected by Flinders University academics Read more

The $4m funding injection was originally offered to the University of Western Australia, which announced it would not proceed with the centre in May, after a backlash from staff and students.

In July, Flinders University in South Australia requested more information on the centre, to be run by the Danish academic.

Simms asked if Flinders University was aware that the federal funding had been withdrawn.

“There have been some media reports that they are still trying to get their hands on that money,” he asked. “Knowing that it was likely to be raised today, I spoke to [Flinders vice chancellor] Professor Stirling this morning,” Birmingham said.

“So we can say today with clarity that that is the end of the Lomborg matter. It’s not going to be hosted here in Australia?” Simms asked.

“If any Australian university wants to engage with Bjørn Lomborg, they should feel absolutely free to do so,” Birmingham replied. “Certainly a specific incentive from the government for such an institute is no longer available.”

The minister said he had contacted Lomborg on Wednesday to advise him of the decision. Birmingham said he did not believe the original decision to provide funding, nor the decision to withdraw the offer, had gone to cabinet for approval.

Education department officials said they had briefed Pyne on the progress of discussions before the minister made the decision on 17 September.

Labor’s higher education spokesman, Kim Carr, quizzed Birmingham about the answers he gave in an ABC radio interview on 1 October in response to questions about whether he would block funding for Lomborg to set up the centre at Flinders University.

Birmingham said in the interview that he stood “for academic freedom and autonomy of universities” and “which academics choose to engage is entirely a matter for those universities”.

At the Senate estimates hearing, Birmingham said he did not think his comments were misleading. “I do recall at the time being asked these questions being very conscious of not making an off-the-cuff announcement in relation to information that I was privy to,” he said.

Asked why the government had taken so long to notify the affected parties, Birmingham said: “It wasn’t the highest priority on my list.”

Birmingham said the focus of the consensus centre had been “misrepresented in the public commentary”.

The “particular work and focus” of the centre, Birmingham argued, was “the most effective utilisation of international development assistance”.

A spokesman for Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre expressed disappointment at the decision.

“It is disappointing that a significant global research effort attracting top economists to look at development priorities will no longer be associated with Australia,” a statement from the spokesman said. “Those who used the announcement of Australia Consensus as a political football had no interest in our record of 10 years’ work on development issues, or our work with hundreds of world-class economists and Nobel laureates.

“Australia could have played a leadership role in setting global development priorities. It is a pity for Australian researchers and civil society that won’t be the case,” the statement said.



Flinders University’s vice chancellor, Colin Stirling, said he was disappointed with the “regrettable” decision. “A group of senior Flinders academics had engaged in positive discussions about a possible Flinders-centric proposal that would have been significantly different from the arrangement that had previously been accepted, and later withdrawn, by the University of Western Australia,” the university said in a statement.

Stirling said universities should be places for contesting controversial issues without fear or favour, and he was “proud of the principled stand taken by colleagues here at Flinders on the issue of academic freedom”.

But Caleb Pattinson, the education officer at the Flinders University Student Association, hailed the decision as “a huge win for students”.

“We can now rest easy knowing our university’s academic integrity will not be jeopardised by questionable funding from the federal government,” Pattinson said.

“This victory today is the culmination of hard work by Flinders University staff and students who have voiced outrage over this proposal since it first broke months ago.”

The National Tertiary Education Union vowed to “continue to oppose attempts by governments or corporations to distort the autonomy of our public universities”.“An unprecedented groundswell of opposition from Flinders University staff and students arose in response to senior management’s play for the money,” said the union’s Flinders University branch president, Ron Slee.

“Today’s decision is a welcome relief for a university community that has been relentless in its campaign to protect against the reputational damage that would inevitably travel with the Lomborg money.”

But the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi denounced the decision as “a pathetic sop to leftist bullying”.

The Institute of Public Affairs, which has Liberal party links, said the decision was “a victory for censorship and groupthink”.

“By making this decision, the government has surrendered to the demands of the Centre’s hysterical opponents, who only want a narrow range of views heard at universities,” said Morgan Begg, editor of the IPA’s FreedomWatch.

Simms questioned the decision not to inform Flinders University until Wednesday morning.



“It’s curious that the government had made the decision to abandon this some weeks ago yet appears to have sat on the decision. Nonetheless, we welcome the decision. This is great news for the academic integrity of our universities and it is testament to the strong community campaign,” the Greens senator said.