Mr Martin Ferguson asked the Minister representing the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, upon notice, on 5 February 2003:

(1) Which organisations received Backing Australia's Ability initiatives funding in (a) 2001-2002 and (b) 2002-2003 under the Centres of Excellence for Information and Communications Technology.

(2) What is the physical location of each funded organisation.

(3) At what physical location will or did the research take place.

(4) Which organisations are attached to a university or research organisation.

Mr McGauran (Minister for Science) —The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(1) Organisations receiving Backing Australia's Ability funding under the Centre of Excellence for Information and Communications Technology were:

(a) for 2001-2002, nil; and

(b) for 2002-2003, one organisation entitled National ICT Australia (NICTA). NICTA has received payments totalling $9 million, with a further $10.1 million expected to be paid before the end of this financial year. NICTA is established under the Corporations Law and has as its members the Australian National University, The University of NSW, and the governments of NSW and the ACT.

(2) NICTA has established its head office at the Australian Technology Park, Sydney, and has two research nodes, one in Sydney and the other in Canberra.

(3) The Sydney node is located during phase one on the campus at the University of NSW, Kensington, with the Canberra node located during phase one at the Research School of Information Sciences & Engineering, Australian National University. Both these research nodes are operational and undertaking research activities.

(4) While NICTA operates on sites at the ANU and the University of NSW, it is an entity independent of these universities. The company constitution is designed to ensure that the Centre operates independently of its members.