Bills Digest No. 124 2004–05
Australian Institute of Marine Science Amendment Bill 2005
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
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Australian Institute of
Marine Science Amendment Bill 2005
Date Introduced: 10 February 2005
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Science and Training
Commencement: On
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’.
This Bill was introduced in June 2004 but not debated before the proroguing
of Parliament later that year. The 2005 version has been reintroduced
with only one change – a technical correction to a section number.
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.
Under the Bill, the title of head of AIMS will be ‘Chief Executive
Officer’ rather than ‘Director’. This new title reflects the common
designation of the heads of other organisations such as CSIRO, the Australian
Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.
According to the second reading speech:
This clearly identifies the holder of the office as the
head of AIMS, clarity that is important when developing professional
relationships and arrangements on behalf of AIMS.(1)
- Peter McGauran MP, House of Representatives Debates, 10 February
2005, p. 5.
Angus Martyn
8 March 2005
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2005
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Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2005.
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