Industry Minister Tim Ayres will commit Australia to the Horizon Europe funding scheme in Brussels on Thursday, a program that shares €93.5 billion ($152 billion) for science, industry and innovation projects across EU member states and partner countries. Australia has pledged $40 million to the scheme, which already includes Canada, New Zealand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and others. The major benefits to Australia are expected to flow in the next phase, worth €53.5 billion over the next seven years, with research priorities including critical minerals, computing, energy, climate, health and space.
The pact comes amid an impasse over the EU Free Trade Agreement, unveiled in March, which faces opposition in the Senate from the Nationals. Nationals leader Matt Canavan has blasted the deal because it includes provisions committing Australia to the Paris Agreement and a net-zero emissions target by 2050. Canavan said on Sunday he would be ‘constructive’ in talks with Trade Minister Don Farrell but stood by his rejection of the net-zero target. The Liberals and Greens are yet to declare their positions, while One Nation supports the deal. Some Liberals have pushed back, with former cabinet minister Alex Hawke describing the Nationals’ position as ‘nutty’ in a party room meeting last month.
Ayres called on the Coalition to drop its objections, arguing the broader relationship with Europe benefits Australia’s national interest. ‘You would have to have rocks in your head to oppose the EU FTA in this period, when we’re in the middle of a heightened strategic contest and trade volatility,’ he said. He rejected Canavan’s concern about climate provisions, saying every Australian agreement of the past 15 years contained similar provisions and calling the Nationals’ argument ‘a nonsense argument’ and ‘not a real argument’. Ayres urged the Coalition to ‘get serious and get adult’.
The defence partnership agreed in March aims to improve co-operation on defence industry initiatives, with Europe a major defence exporter and Australia seeking to export more high-tech defence equipment. The trade agreement has also been criticised by Australian food exporters for doing little to open European markets, though it increases some access for beef and lamb.
In one example of research collaboration, the University of New South Wales will on Wednesday announce a joint project with the University of Stuttgart in Germany to develop new materials for solar power. UNSW vice chancellor Attila Brungs said the partnerships would bring ‘enormous’ benefit. ‘Australia produces about 3 per cent of the world’s new knowledge each year, despite representing only 0.3 per cent of the global population, which means we must connect with the other 97 per cent,’ he said. Ayres travelled to the UK on Sunday for visits to advanced manufacturing centres and is due to visit Stuttgart before heading to Brussels.