The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (formerly Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment) has put in place an accountability framework to support Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) in meeting the needs of stakeholders, and demonstrating impact. The framework comprises the following core elements, which are described further below:
- Statutory Funding Agreement 2020-2030
- Guidelines for Statutory Funding Agreements
- RDC Knowledge Transfer and Commercialisation Guide
- Best Practice Guide to Stakeholder Engagement.
- Agriculture Innovation Policy Statement
Reporting against our accountability framework can be found here.
Statutory Funding Agreement 2020-2030
The Statutory Funding Agreement is an agreement between the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia and the FRDC.
The agreement sets the guidelines and principles to ensure the performance and accountability of the FRDC, and to help foster a culture of continuous improvement.
The agreement establishes a framework for the FRDC’s funding guidelines in accordance with the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989 and its subsequent amendments. This includes Corporate Governance and the process for periodic independent reviews.
Guidelines for Statutory Funding Agreements
The Guidelines sit alongside other reforms to support innovation and should be read in conjunction with the Statutory Funding Agreement and Companion Document. The Guidelines describe Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that operate in addition to any RDC specific KPIs.
To meet the requirements of the Statutory Funding Agreement, RDCs must demonstrate how they achieved the KPIs set out in the Guidelines. Annual performance discussions with the department focus on demonstrating progress against the KPIs.
RDC Knowledge Transfer and Commercialisation Guide
This document provides guiding principles for Knowledge Transfer (KT), including commercialisation, for the adoption of R&D investment within the Australian agriculture’s Research and Development Corporation context.
Best Practice Guide to Stakeholder Engagement
The Best Practice Guide provides a set of guiding principles that RDCs should apply to all stakeholder interactions and consultation plans. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation will need to demonstrate how it has applied these principles at annual performance meetings with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry independent reviews of performance. The high-level consultation plan has been developed to help ensure best practice in the delivery of stakeholder consultation activities.
Agriculture Innovation Policy Statement
The Agriculture Innovation Policy Statement:
- outlines a vision for the future of Australia’s agriculture sector, targeting five pillars of reform
- describes four new national Agricultural Innovation Priorities:
- Trusted exporter of premium food and agricultural products
- Champion of climate resilience to increase the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agriculture sector
- World leader in preventing and rapidly responding to significant pests and diseases through future-proofing our biosecurity system
- Mature adopter, developer, and exporter of digital agriculture
- presents case studies that demonstrate progress already made, and commitments that are yet to be achieved
- describes key participants that make up the agriculture innovation ‘ecosystem’
- sets out key elements of monitoring and evaluating success.