Bjørn Lomborg’s “consensus centre” may have been allowed to spend up to $800,000 of its $4m in government funding on promotion and marketing, and up to $2m on high-profile “events”, under draft conditions for the grant to the University of Western Australia to host the controversial and now-abandoned project.

A backlash from staff and students forced UWA to abandon the deal.



Documents obtained by Guardian Australia after freedom of information requests reveal draft conditions for the $4m grant underpinning the agreement between the Abbott government and UWA budgeted for the proposed Australia Consensus Centre to spend between 20% and 50% of the grant on “event costs” and between 10% and 20% on “promotion and marketing”.

The budget left half or less (between 20% and 50%) to be spent on “staff and professional fees”. The budget was abandoned when an “alternate contracting arrangement” led to a formal written agreement between the government and UWA which contained no budget. (See editor’s note below for an update.)



Documents previously released showed Lomborg was also required under the deal to conduct a series of seminars and speeches around the country titled “The Australian Rational Conversation”.

The latest university to consider hosting the centre is Flinders University in Adelaide, with vice chancellor Colin Stirling saying he believed universities should “experiment bravely”.

But he has also faced a backlash from staff and students who warned they would protest against any move by the university to host the centre.

UWA pulled out of the original deal after Guardian Australia revealed the federal funding.

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.

In June 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 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.”

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.

Follow-up answers provided to a Senate estimates committee this week reveal the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet first raised the matter with the Department of Education on 27 June 2014, and that department advised Lomborg of the funding offer less than three weeks later.

The grant agreement identified very ambitious, but somewhat vague, global goals for the three-and-a-half year project at UWA.

It said: “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.

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 to 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”.

Editor’s note: This article was corrected on 11 November 2015. It reported accurately the budget figures but originally stated inaccurately that the budget figures were part of the agreement between the Abbott government and UWA. The Department of Education clarified on 5 November 2015 that the final agreement resulted from an alternate contracting arrangement and that the “Conditions of Grant” document did not proceed beyond the drafting stage. A separate memorandum of understanding between UWA and Dr Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre, released on 28 October 2015, contained a differently structured budget without the figures found in the draft conditions. FoI appeal decisions over related documents are pending. A Senate Committee was told on 21 October 2015 that the public funds for an Australian Consensus Centre were withdrawn soon after Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister on 15 September 2015.