Australia’s commitment to Antarctica needs to eliminate repeated short-term funding crises, writes Professor Matt King.*
The departure of RSV Nuyina on its maiden science voyage in two weeks highlights Australia's dedication to Antarctica. Nuyina represents a multi-decadal commitment to Antarctic science and peace under the Antarctic Treaty. Our commitment to the research programs made possible by Nuyina, and the scientists who conduct it, must be similarly long-term. Right now, it is not.
Costing $528 million to design and build, and $1.4 billion to operate and maintain over 30
years, Nuyina is one of the world’s most advanced research icebreakers.Nuyina will enable our scientists to reach previously inaccessible areas, allowing them to observe the rapidly changing ocean, sea ice, and ecosystems. It promises a floating station from which scientists can fly to remote locations in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
During the Nuyina’s Denman Marine Voyage over 60 scientists will spend more than two months studying the ocean in front of the Denman Glacier, which holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 1.5m. This glacier is showing signs of change, and we are only beginning to map and understand it and so the research has global ramifications.
Scientists from the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS), largely based out of UTAS, will make up about half of the scientists on board. This voyage, proposed by ACEAS in 2019, is part of a unified study of the glacier system, taking six years from proposal to realisation.
ACEAS is just one part of the Antarctic research ecosystem, which includes multiple centres based in Australian universities and government agencies like Australian Antarctic Division and CSIRO. The university sector is crucial, contributing to or leading about 75% of Australia’s Antarctic and Southern Ocean research efforts. The University of Tasmania, the world’s leading university in Antarctic and Southern Ocean studies, contributes more than one-third of the total.
However, much of the university funding is short-term, misaligned with the long-term nature of Australia’s Antarctic commitment. The support, training, and wages ACEAS provides will disappear mid-next year, with no plan to replace it. Indeed, there is currently no long-term plan to ensure sufficient research positions to honour the $2 billion investment from taxpayers in Nuyina, research stations, or aircraft.
Funding for Antarctic and Southern Ocean research at UTAS is now at its lowest point since large-scale research began in 1991. After flat funding since 1991, short-term fixes were introduced in 2014, with 3 years of funding followed by a crisis and then a 1-year lifeline, and then termination in 2018. ACEAS funding was announced in 2020, but it now faces its own crisis, with termination mid-next year, ending the jobs of over 30 of Australia’s leading early career researchers and disrupting a key pathway to train the next generation.
A Federal parliamentary report has now recommended ongoing funding for university-based centres including ACEAS, recognising their outsized role in Australian Antarctic research. The report is well informed on this and other items, but it now relies on the Government to accept and implement these recommendations.
In fact, multiple Government reviews and inquiries have highlighted the need for reform in how Australia organises Antarctic research. There is widespread agreement with this across organisations and by policymakers, yet we remain in a grossly inefficient cycle of short-term crises that are sometimes followed by short-term fixes.
At the launch of ACEAS I emphasised the need for Australia to anticipate the surprises Antarctica presents to prepare policymakers. Unfortunately, Antarctica continues to surprise us at an increasing pace: heatwaves over 30 degrees above expected temperatures, a dramatic slowdown of the southern part of the global ocean circulation, a rapid reduction in sea ice extent since 2016, and some parts of Antarctica turning green as the ice retreats.
These changes are and will have real-world consequences for our way of life in Australia, for our Pacific neighbours and globally.
ACEAS scientists are working to understand these phenomena and more, advancing our ability to project Antarctica's future. For example, ACEAS researchers developed the first model that can reliably predict krill distribution in the Southern Ocean, a key step in assessing climate change impacts on this keystone species.
Failing to fix the near-future demise of ACEAS will impact Australia’s reputation as a leading Antarctic nation by seeming to reduce its commitment to Antarctic science. For Tasmania, it means a loss of jobs and expertise, a tarnishing of our globally distinctive reputation as Australia’s Antarctic gateway, and a critical disruption to the education pathway that inspires and develops our next generation of Antarctic researchers. The research itself must be at the heart of our future investment in Antarctica.
The long-term and short-term fixes call for an Antarctic research champion in government, someone with the interests of the nation, Tasmania as the unique gateway to Antarctica, and the planet, in mind.
Professor Matt King is Director of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) at University of Tasmania. He has worked in Antarctic research in the UK and Australia for over 25 years.
*This opinion piece was first published in the Mercury newspaper on Wednesday 19 February 2025
Cover image: RSV Nuyina at sea.
Credit: © Pete Harmsen | AAD
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