Concerns raised over Labor’s think tank review

Think tanks, including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), could see their funding cut as a result of a review into public funding for strategic policy work. Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson during an interview with Sky News Australia expressed his concerns about the proposed recommendations, stating that they could threaten the financial viability of think tanks like ASPI. Mr Paterson argued that putting core funding up for competitive tender would create a culture of fear, where think tanks would be reluctant to criticise government policy or the defence department for fear of losing funding. “I'm very concerned about the proposed recommendations of the Varghese review, and I hope that the Albanese Government does not adopt the recommendations of this review that they commissioned,” Mr Paterson said. “I'm particularly concerned about putting up the core funding of think tanks like ASPI, which was founded by the government to provide policy contestability in defence and national security up to a competitive tender. Because if you did that, you would threaten ASPI's financial viability every five years, and they would then be very anxious not to ever criticise government policy or the defence department in fear that that would be taken away.” Former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade head Peter Varghese briefed think tanks on Wednesday about the findings of his review, which the government plans to release publicly later this week.