Bills Digest No. 159 2003-04
Australian Institute of Marine Science Amendment
Bill 2004
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Australian
Institute of Marine Science Amendment Bill 2004
Date Introduced: 3 June 2004
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Science and Training
Commencement: Royal Assent
The purpose of this Bill is to add a member nominated by James Cook University
(JCU) to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Council and
to change the name for the head of AIMS from ‘Director’ to ‘Chief Executive
Officer’.
Background
The proposed extra AIMS Council member is an expression of Government
policy encouraging increased collaboration between Commonwealth science
agencies and universities. While there are already many examples of collaboration
at the research level, policies are being designed to encourage even more
synergy, in management as well as at laboratory level. In the case of
AIMS, the Bill applies the principle of collaboration at the highest level
in an important research agency. Especially before the advent of Cooperative
Research Centres, there was insufficient Australian collaboration between
research agencies and university researchers, for example, in contrast
to the collaboration between Germany’s Fraunhofer Institutes and German
universities.
Coincidentally, AIMS and JCU have recently negotiated a separate cooperative
agreement, an initiative known as the AIMS@JCU Joint Venture. Representation
of JCU on AIMS’ Council will help to facilitate the Joint Venture, although
the two moves are not formally linked.
The second measure in the Bill brings AIMS into line with the common
usage designation Chief Executive Officer as used, for example, in CSIRO,
the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research
Council. This will assist in developing professional relationships between
AIMS and other bodies.(1)
New paragraph 12(1)(a) (inserted by Item 1 of Schedule
1) provides that the AIMS Council shall include a member nominated
by James Cook University.
New subsection 16(2) (inserted by Item 5 of Schedule
1) provides that the member nominated by James Cook University will
cease to be a member if his or her nomination is withdrawn.
Item 17 amends section 21 so as to provide that there shall
be a Chief Executive of the Institute (rather than a Director).
Item 19 amends section 23 so as to provide that the affairs
of AIMS shall be managed by the Chief Executive (rather than the Director).
- The Hon Peter McGauran, Minister for Science ‘Second Reading Speech
Australian Institute of Marine Science Amendment Bill 2004’, House
of Representatives, Debates, 3 June 2004 p. 29630.
Rod Panter and Jennifer Nicholson
17 June 2004
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2004
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Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2004.
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