The proposal contains 12 separate components.

Component 1 would establish a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology as an independent body to provide scientific advice to Parliament, modelled off the United Kingdom’s office of the same name, and with peak workflow expected during Parliamentary periods.

Component 2 would establish an additional non-refundable tax offset of 20% for companies that hire science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhD students or equivalent graduates in their first three years of employment.

Component 3 would provide block grant funding to universities. The amounts would be as if the Sustainable Research Excellence grants program were restored plus an increase of $1 billion in funding over the 2022-23 Budget forward estimates and $3 billion over the medium term.

Component 4 would increase funding for science organisations ($88.9 million for the Australian Research Council, $483.3 million for the National Health and Medical Research Council, which includes $15m to fund research into myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome, and $33.3 million for the Cooperative Research Centres). It would also return savings from the 2014-15 Budget measure Science and Research Agencies – reduced funding to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, divided evenly over three years from 2023-24.

Component 5 would support diversity in science and research and development (R&D), including evaluations of existing programs by providing $50 million annually.

Component 6 would increase funding for the Research Infrastructure Investment Strategy by $175 million annually.

Component 7 would increase funding for the Australian Research Council’s Future Fellowships scheme by $70 million annually to support mid-career researchers to expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capacity.

Component 8 would drive the development and implementation of a national open access publishing program by providing $46.2 million annually.

Component 9 would increase funding for existing teacher training in STEM education by $41.7 million annually.

Component 10 would assist universities and research institutes to transition researchers to ongoing employment by providing $50 million annually for a secure work for researchers fund.

Component 11 would commit $1 billion annually to a research translation fund (the fund), as specified by Science and Technology Australia in their 2020-21 Pre-Budget submission, to be disbursed by the Australian Research Council.

Component 12 would provide $20 million in capped funding for the public service to examine options to reduce upfront time commitment for grant applications.

Components 4 to 10 would be indexed annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Components 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 would start from 1 January 2023. Components 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12 would start from 1 July 2023.