In the early days of flight MH370's disappearance the search focused on areas of ocean off the West Australian coast where authorities suspected the plane may have crashed. They asked scientists for models of ocean currents to predict where debris may have floated. Some of the most up-to-date information came from observing equipment floating in the area, part of Australia's ocean surveillance system known as the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).
Despite the value of IMOS's data to this search and rescue effort, but also to climate researchers, the fishing, oil and tourism industries and the Defence Force, a political stalemate may shut it down by June 30, leaving $35 million of ocean equipment decommissioned or abandoned in oceans.
Australia's research community has implored Tony Abbott to deliver the $150 million he promised to a group of world-class research facilities in the last federal budget, warning many facilities are preparing to close, a situation that will have "immense" consequences for the country's research effort.
Money for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy's 27 facilities to operate for another year is tied to the government's higher education reforms, which have stalled in the Senate.
The National Research Alliance sent an open letter to Mr Abbott and cabinet members on Thursday saying the uncertainty over next year's funding meant many NCRIS facilities, which directly employ 1700 highly skilled staff, were preparing to close.
"The damage to Australia's domestic and collaborative international research effort that will result from such closures is immense," wrote the Alliance, made up of Australia's scientific, university and public and private research organisations.
Continuity and productivity of critical research programs will be set back by several years, some companies will be forced to take their operations offshore, and many profitable international research collaborations will cease, they wrote.
Since 2004 NCRIS has invested more than $2 billion in state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities shared among researchers, universities and industry. More than 35,000 Australian and international researchers use the facilities, which include radio telescopes used for high-precision GPS, high-end microscopes, cleanrooms to develop new materials, and the Atlas of Living Australia.
"The facilities underpin much of Australia's $30 billion annual spend on science, research and development at an operational cost of just $150 million per annum (0.5% of total, and 1.6% of the Australian government science funding)," wrote the Alliance.
Tim Moltmann, the director of IMOS, said without the promised funds it would be forced to close, leaving about 80 staff without jobs and affecting hundreds of projects, PhD students and research organisations reliant on its data.
"We estimate we'll have $35-$40 million worth of equipment in the ocean on June 30th," said Mr Moltmann.
Other facilities that will be affected include the Australian National Fabrication Facility, which manages infrastructure that physicist Tanya Monro has used to collaborate with the wine industry to develop "smart bungs" that can monitor the quality of wine in storage.
Professor Monro, the deputy vice chancellor of research and innovation at University of South Australia and a member of the newly formed Science Council, said this type of highly specialised infrastructure was essential for interaction between researchers and industry.
"It's the specialist equipment and the expert people that can use it that provides the magnet [for researchers] to connect with people who have problems in the outside world," she said.
Given the government's push to measure the impact research made to industry, Professor Monro said it seemed very strange to "take away the rug from under people's feet, which is the gear that allows them to do that".
Mr Moltmann said infrastructure dismantled now would cost more to put back together in the future.
In its letter, the National Research Alliance urged the government to fulfil its responsibility to fund the NCRIS program in 2015-16, and use the current NCRIS review to find a long-term funding solution.
Research infrastructure under threat
- Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility – a network of sophisticated microscopes.
- Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) – Australia's ocean surveillance system.
- Atlas of Living Australia – a digital database of Australia's biodiversity.
- AuScope – manages infrastructure for earth imaging and the study of sub-surface layers.
- Australian National Fabrication Facility – manages infrastructure, such as cleanrooms, used by researchers and industry to create new materials and electronic devices.
- Astronomy Australia Ltd – a not-for-profit company that partly funds most of the country's telescopes, including the precursor to the Square Kilometre Array, ASKAP, and the Murchison Widefield Array.
