Strip ministers of veto over ARC grants – review

The escalating abuse of the process for allocating grants for scientific research in recent years has had its denouement with the release of an independent review by eminent scientists which found that the Australian Research Council, and not the minister, should decide who receives federal science grants. Education Minister Jason Clare yesterday released the review,…

Cochlear disagrees with new competition concerns over takeover

Hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear has again rebuffed competition concerns from authorities over its planned takeover of competitor Oticon Medical for $170 million, which followed a decision by parent company Demant to exit the hearing implants business. Cochlear said it disagreed with the conclusions of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which found provisionally that…

Phantom launch planned for Arnhem Space Centre

The owner and operator of the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) in the Northern Territory is working towards a multi-launch contract with American space transportation and rocket manufacturing company Phantom Space Corporation. Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA), which signed a MOU with Phantom Space in 2022, also envisages an expanded scope and detail of future cooperation to…