Is the Australian Government doing enough to support MS research, and neurological research more generally?
There is a strong case to be made that more could and should be done, especially as there are around seven million Australians living with some form of neurological disease. Unlike most of the other major causes of the burden of disease in Australia, neurological conditions are increasing in prevalence, and the mortality rates are also rising.
The case for greater investment is particularly true for the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), set up to much applause in 2015. The government of the day pledged to keep tipping money into the fund until it was fully capitalised at $20bn, with interest earned used to support research above and beyond what was spent by the government’s long-established funding arm, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
Today, the MRFF has grown to $22bn, but only some of the interest is now used to support medical research initiatives. For 2024-25, the Future Fund Board of Guardians determined that the amount available for research grants was – after taking into account all legislated considerations – just shy of $1bn, some $973m to be exact. But the Australian Government has capped expenditure at $650m. That’s $323m that should have been allocated this year that has been withheld.
Little wonder that Research Australia is running a campaign to increase funds released from the MRFF. MS Australia and the Neurological Alliance Australia are calling for a new MRFF neurological mission to be established, with funding of $300m over ten years, to provide much-needed additional investment in neurological research, including MS research. That would require less than 10 per cent of the additional funding that should – but doesn’t – flow to medical research from the MRFF.
And what of the NHMRC?
Funding for neurological conditions has been reasonably healthy, reaching $214m in 2019. Since then, however, it has been in decline, falling to $183m in 2023. About a quarter of this expenditure is allocated to just one disease.
We are now reaching out to all major parties ahead of the next federal election, making the case for greater investment in medical research with a neurological research mission at the very top of the priority list.
