$4.4m contract to establish Australia consensus centre at University of WA required Danish academic to do seminars across the country, documents reveal

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The $4.4m contract to establish the “Australia consensus centre” at the University of Western Australia required Danish academic Bjørn Lomborg to conduct a series of seminars and speeches around the country titled “The Australian Rational Conversation”.

UWA eventually gave back the money, after a fierce backlash when Guardian Australia revealed the federal government grant in April. Lomborg is now searching for another Australian education institution that will take the federal money and host his research centre.

Universities told to speak to Bjorn Lomborg if they want $4m in funding Read more

Guardian Australia has obtained under freedom of information parts of the grant agreement signed by the federal education department and UWA on 24 March.

It identified very ambitious, but somewhat vague, global goals for the three and a half year project.

It says: “The Australia Consensus programme aims to identify the key challenges facing Australia and the world and, based on advice, for the Australian Government to consider potential policy reforms and other interventions that will deliver the smartest, most cost-effective solutions. The advice is to be developed using the methodology developed by the Copenhagen Consensus Center” – referring to a policy ranking system developed by Lomborg in Copenhagen before the Danish government stopped funding his work.

The Australia Consensus Centre project was scheduled to deliver three main reports.

Freedom of information documents, some redacted, from the Department of Education.

By December 2016 it was to “report to the relevant Australian Government agency or agencies on the outcomes and recommendations from the Smarter UN Post-2015 Development Targets project, including recommendations on the best development targets for Australia to adopt and support internationally.”

And by December 2017 it was two deliver two more reports – the Global Consensus 2016 project and the Australian Prosperity Consensus 2016 project – each of which was to “report to the relevant Australian government agency or agencies on the outcomes and recommendations ... including recommendations on policy reforms or other interventions that the Government could adopt to support the most cost-effective solutions to key challenges”.

The contract required a public role for Lomborg himself, who was to conduct “a program of seminars and public speaking engagements ... under the banner of the Australian Rational Conversation”.

“This component of the project will assist in stimulating public debate and engagement, which is a key element of the consensus methodology, and will strengthen the quality and validity of program outcomes and substantially inform the advice to government under all three consensus projects,” the contract states.

The contract provided for four payments of $1.1m, covering the regular reports and a final report to government in June 2018.

“Each of these component projects will involve rigorous identification of issues and problems that require analysis, the generation of well-articulated solutions by key Australian and international economists, and assessment and ranking of the best solutions by an expert panel of economists including Nobel Laureates,” the contract states.

After UWA pulled out of the deal, the education minister, Christopher Pyne, vowed to find another university to host the centre. He said he was seeking legal advice about a decision by the university to renege on the funding agreement it had signed with the commonwealth.

Earlier this month Senate estimates heard that legal advice had been provided to the minister but no legal action had been taken against UWA.

At the time UWA withdrew from the deal, Lomborg said he remained committed to setting up the Australia consensus centre because his research was “far too important to let fall victim to toxic politics” and “grossly misinformed attacks”.

“I am disappointed that the University of Western Australia (UWA) will not be a part of this effort,” he said. “The UWA vice chancellor found himself in an impossible position when the centre was used as a political football. The facts about Australia consensus have been drowned out.

“Australia consensus would have put the University of Western Australia at the forefront of global research efforts to improve the use of aid spending. It is deeply disappointing that UWA has lost this opportunity because of toxic politics, ad hominem attacks, and premature judgment.”

Bjørn Lomborg centre: government approached us, says University of WA Read more

In a statement announcing the withdrawal and emailed to UWA staff and then published online UWA vice chancellor Paul Johnson said strong opposition to the centre had put the university in a difficult position.

“Therefore, it is with great regret and disappointment that I have formed the view that the events of the past few weeks places the centre in an untenable position as it lacks the support needed across the university and the broader academic community to meet its contractual obligations and deliver value for money for Australian taxpayers,” he said.

Pyne accused the UWA academics of “shouting down” views with which they disagreed, particularly Lomborg’s views on climate policy.

The department refused to release some parts of the contract and several other documents requested under FOI by Guardian Australia.