December 19, 2024
A prominent Australian think tank known for its critical stance on China will have its taxpayer funding cut after a sweeping government review of public support for national security research.
The Albanese government has released a report by former bureaucrat Peter Varghese, who recommends an overhaul of funding for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and other institutions.
One of the key recommendations states the government should also "cease funding for ASPI's Washington, D.C. Office" by this financial year, despite being opened by Defence Minister Richard Marles only two years ago.
Mr Varghese said funding for ASPI and other national security research should be subject to competitive evaluation every five years, which the government has accepted.
"Government should adopt a five-year cycle for providing operating funding to the sector, commencing in 2027-28," the review states.
"The new funding cycle should involve a performance evaluation in year three and an open tender process in year four."
The government has accepted eight of the report's 14 recommendations in full.
Public funding for "anti-China" think tanks was one of Beijing's 14 grievances revealed during the diplomatic low point between China and Australia.
Following the official release of the Varghese report, ASPI executive director Justin Bassi slammed the recommendations from the former DFAT secretary.
"The Varghese review and the government's endorsement of its recommendations show a clear pattern of bringing greater government control to the work done by independent national security think tanks," Mr Bassi said.
"This diminishes the core purpose of think tanks, which is to challenge and contest the policies, priorities and agendas of the government and the bureaucracy, thereby helping to improve decision-making.
"Putting government officials on the councils of think tanks that get operational funding from the government is a clear interference in their internal decision-making, again threatening the principle of contestability".
Former Labor MP, and now senior fellow at ASPI, David Feeney, has also criticised the government's response to the Varghese report.
"The recommendation to close the ASPI office in Washington DC is a misstep, particularly at a time when AUKUS is so important," the former parliamentary secretary for Defence told the ABC.
"While the DFAT viewpoint that it should enjoy a monopoly on the Australia-US relationship is explicable, the fact remains that civil society is important to the alliance relationship too."
Mr Bassi is a former Liberal staffer who was appointed as head of the think tank by then-defence minister Peter Dutton in 2022.
Inside Labor circles, there has been growing disquiet at the direction of ASPI under Mr Bassi's leadership, particularly his decision to create a senior position to hire a former Liberal Party colleague and to publish research highly critical of Labor policies.
During Mr Bassi's tenure, several highly experienced defence analysts left the organisation, while other former employees privately told the ABC of poor morale inside the think tank.
In a statement, Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson and Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie said the review recklessly undermined the nation's national interest.
"The recommendations of the Labor-commissioned [review] … would see ASPI neutered, silencing an influential voice in the national security debate at a time when it is most needed," the statement said.
"The Albanese Government's agreement to the recommendation to defund ASPI's office in Washington DC could not come at a worse time ahead of President Trump's inauguration next month."
Greens senator David Shoebridge said the Varghese report "identifies the right illness but then prescribes the wrong medicine".
"Yes, the sector is riven with undisclosed funding and a lack of transparency, but the answer to that is not a Commonwealth government takeover," he said.
"No self-respecting independent think tank would accept having a Commonwealth government observer sitting on their board, yet this will become a new condition for accepting public funding.
"Right at the time that Defence is getting a flood of funding for highly contested platforms like AUKUS submarines and Hunter Frigates, Labor is planning to put Defence bureaucrats in charge of the research priorities of the nation's national security think tanks."
