Synchrotron debate heats up

Victorian Treasurer and Innovation Minister John Brumby went on the defensive today after newspapers reported that the Victorian government had approached the Federal government to bail them out of the $57 million hole in the Synchrotron project.

In an interview with Jon Faine on ABC radio in Melbourne this morning, Brumby said that the Victorian government had approached Canberra, but said the intention was simply to clarify any Federal government commitment to the project.

"The Commonwealth is the major provider of R&D funds in Australia, and we're interested to know ... whether the Commonwealth will be providing support through agencies like cooperative research centres, through CSIRO, through the Australian Research Council, or through other science funds," Brumby said.

Brumby did not directly answer Faine's questions about whether the Victorian Government needed Federal assistance in order to build the Synchrotron.

"It would be unthinkable, and I think a national embarrassment if the Federal government was not willing to contribute towards the operational cost of the facility," he said.

But in an earlier interview, again on Faine's ABC radio show, Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran indicated that the Federal government would not contribute the "big slabs of money" that the Victorian government wanted.

"We'll try to support in whatever ways we can, but there's no doubt that the bulk of the money, the overwhelming majority of the costs, will be borne by Victoria," he told Faine.

A spokesperson for McGauran said that the Victorian government had written to the Federal government, and that the matter was under consideration but declined to elaborate.

Victorian Opposition Innovation Minister Victor Perton, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the Synchrotron project, said that the situation was a shambles.

"We've been saying all along that there is a $60 million black hole in the funding. Clearly the government has worked out that it can't afford it, and private investment is not forthcoming," he said.

"Obviously a Synchrotron would be good for Melbourne. But the question is, who owns it and who funds it?"