Research funding is not available

for a project which has shown a positive advance in a technique which could improve the eyesight for some people with macular degeneration. Research funding is not available for looking at the effectiveness of non-electronic communication aids in developing the communication skills of children who have profound physical and/or intellectual disabilities.

These are just two research projects of which I have first hand knowledge. Both of them were worthy of funding. They both had the capacity to directly advance the quality of life of others. Both of them were turned down on spurious grounds. 

There is another project I am peripherally involved in which involves communication between medical staff and patients. I would have thought there could be no doubt at all about the value of this project. Good communication between doctors, nurses and all other medical staff and the patients they are treating would seem to be absolutely vital for best outcomes. There was a tiny grant for a limited study but the grant did not come from the funds of our nationally based "research council".

This morning our state newspaper has an article saying that our national university has just been given a $1.48m grant for a four year study into changing the date of our national day (currently 26 January) and the failure of the referendum on the Voice (the indigenous voice to parliament). Both of these are issues which the research council seems to think are important and both have had plenty of media attention.

There is a group of people who think we should celebrate a national day on a different date. Their reasons for doing it vary but the reason that gets the most attention is that it celebrates "invasion day". This is the day that white settlers "took over" this country. We are constantly told by those who object to the day that it is "offensive" and "hurtful". Yes, there is a possibility that a very small number of people feel that way. My own experience is very different. There is no strong feeling among indigenous people about the date. Those claiming offence and hurt often have as many or even more ancestors who are guilty of the acts which claim to do so much harm. This is one of those issues which allow people to be "activists". It is fanned by the media as a way of keeping the issue alive. Without any media attention the issue would dwindle to almost nothing but with media attention there is scope for "rallies" and "marches" and "demands for reparations" and more. 

The Voice was doomed to failure from the start. For all the support it was given in the media the reality is that it is not what indigenous people themselves wanted. The idea that there needed to be something permanently attached to the Constitution to permanently protect indigenous people was seen by indigenous people I know as saying "you will always be citizens in need of special protection". It is not the way they see themselves.

We need to address the issue of what it means to be "indigenous" and who that means. It is however seen as an untouchable issue. There does not appear to be any means of acknowledging the division caused by the demands made by a small group of "activists". It has grown out of control now. Are you really "indigenous" if just one of your great-great-grandparents might have been but this cannot even been proven? We have become fearful of being termed "racist" if we even question such claims or the access to the benefits of such a claim. 

This is research funding being wasted on perpetuating division and claims to disadvantage. I know what I would prefer the available funding to be spent on and I am sure other people would also like to lay claim to equally worthy projects.