I know. Despite being close to them we’re never sorry to see our big cousins across the Tasman taken down a peg or two – there’s a good reason why the Aussie cricket team is opposed by every other cricketing nations’ fans irrespective of who Aussie are playing.
Now it’s money they’re sad about:
Australian Academy of Science chief executive Anna-Maria Arabia told the Australian Financial Review the federal government had to be quicker to respond to the cuts rather than choosing to “wait and see….it is incumbent on the prime minister to call an emergency meeting of the National Science and Technology Council”….
Budget cuts? Well that’s happening everywhere in the world at the moment after the giant binge that governments indulged in during the Great Chinese Lung Rot Scare, as they locked down their peoples and economies and thus had to pump money into the system to keep it on life support.
But there’s a twist to these Australian budget cuts:
Australian universities are crying foul after the Trump administration asked questions that put $386 million in research grants in jeopardy. The bone of contention was a questionnaire sent to Australian grant recipients asking if the institution had “ties to communist or socialist parties, receive funding from China and it only recognises male and female sexes.”
The grants were frozen in January, shortly after President Trump was inaugurated, but were unfrozen at some time thereafter.
Australia apparently spends about $800 million per year on university-based research so the US portion is a significant chunk, hence the emergency meeting following a second round of questions:
“This is really concerning and the thin end of the wedge in terms of where it potentially could go,” Group of Eight CEO Vicki Thomson said. “The nature of the questionnaire was quite astounding,” Ms Thomson said. “If this was any other country, it verges on foreign interference. It’s just remarkable.”
Hang on a minute, mate. If you’re getting money from a foreign government, I don’t think you can complain about “foreign interference” when that government clarifies the terms and conditions for giving you the money.
Why the hell was America funding research at foreign universities using federal funds when it had no control over that research – the classic example being Dr Fauci’s subterfuge against President Obama and President Trump in funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and that after Obama banned such research inside the USA (I wonder if that ever chaps Obama’s ass: somebody should ask him).
Moreover research funding is a zero-sum affair. Handing $386 million to Aussie universities is $386 million that’s not available for American scientists or foreign scientists who want to come to America to do research.
No Minister 
They could move the research programme to the US and have another go at funding.
“…there’s a good reason why the Aussie cricket team is opposed by every other cricketing nations’ fans irrespective of who Aussie are playing.”
That’s a bit behind the times. India are the new Australia, because Kohli and Jadeja are dicks. I always support Australia against India. Also, you can’t really support South Africa against Australia, because even the worst Australian is better than the best Yarpie, Rabada is kind of a prick, and South Africa haven’t had any likeable players since Jonty Rhodes. Whereas it’s very hard to hate Travis Head, even if he is whacking fifty off 20 balls against you, and even Steve Smith is too much of a weird autistic batting savant to really muster extended animosity toward.
Pat Cummins is a wanker though.