The claim is **PARTIALLY TRUE** but contains significant inaccuracies and misleading framing.
**What actually happened:**
1. **The body was abolished**: The Coalition government did abolish the R&D Tax Incentive Advisory Committee in April 2014, as confirmed by SBS News and news.com.au reports [1][2].
2. **The committee was established by Labor**: The committee was created by the previous Labor government, not an independent or long-standing body [1][2].
3. **The $1 billion figure**: The R&D tax incentive program involves approximately $3 billion annually in tax breaks (as of 2014), not merely $1 billion [3][5].
4. **The Coalition's election promise**: The Coalition's 2013 election policy did include a promise to "examine the effectiveness of existing tax incentives and develop recommendations for improving the incentive regime for innovation and R&D investment" [1].
**Key factual issues with the claim:**
- The claim states the body was abolished "despite promising...to improve incentives" - but the Coalition did introduce R&D tax incentive cuts in the 2014-15 Budget, proposing a 1.5% reduction in offset rates (from 40% and 45% to 38.5% and 43.5%) [4][6].
These cuts were projected to save $550 million over four years [6].
- The Abbott government's 2014 budget cut the R&D Tax Incentive scheme by 1.5%, meaning an estimated $70 million per year less would be available for Australian companies to claim [7].
- ABC Fact Check confirmed in October 2014 that government spending on science, research and innovation had been cut to an "historic low" of 0.56% of GDP - equal to the record low from 1988-89 and lower than when records began in 1978-79 [3].
The committee was a recent Labor creation**
The claim omits that the R&D Tax Incentive Advisory Committee was established by the Labor government, making its abolition a political decision to remove an advisory body created by the previous administration.
The Coalition's rationale**
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane stated that "operating within a difficult fiscal environment, the government committed substantial new funding in support of science, research and innovation" while highlighting the Medical Research Future Fund, dementia research funding, and continued R&D tax incentives [3].
The cuts were later blocked**
The proposed 1.5% cuts to R&D tax offsets were defeated by the Senate in March 2015, meaning they were never implemented [6].
The article appears to be a straightforward news report of the committee's abolition, but the framing as presented in the claim is more negative than the original article likely intended.
The archived link (web.archive.org) suggests this is being presented as historical evidence, but the claim adds interpretive framing not present in the original reporting.
**Did Labor do something similar?**
Yes - Labor also made significant changes to R&D tax policy, and in some cases, more substantial ones:
**Labor's 2012 R&D reforms:**
The Gillard Labor government introduced major reforms to the R&D tax concession in 2012, replacing the R&D Tax Concession with the R&D Tax Incentive.
* * * *
These changes:
- Reduced the general R&D tax concession rate from 125% to 100% (plus a 30% tax offset for large companies and 45% refundable offset for small companies) [8]
- Were projected to save approximately $1.8 billion over four years [8]
- Faced significant criticism from business groups and the innovation sector
**Irony of the claim:**
The Labor government that established the advisory committee also implemented larger cuts to R&D tax benefits than those proposed by the Coalition.
The Coalition's proposed 1.5% reduction (which was blocked) was smaller than Labor's 2012 reforms.
**Labor's 2016 position:**
In a notable reversal, Labor leader Bill Shorten announced in June 2016 that if elected, he would implement the Coalition's stalled R&D tax incentive cuts - the very same cuts he had previously opposed [6].
Shorten projected this would have a positive budget impact of $2.8 billion over 10 years.
**Pattern across both parties:**
Both Coalition and Labor governments have sought to reduce R&D tax expenditure when facing budget pressures.
This is a bipartisan pattern of treating R&D tax concessions as a budget line item that can be adjusted for fiscal purposes, rather than a sacrosanct innovation policy.
**The full story:**
1. **The Coalition did abolish the advisory committee** established by Labor, and this can be seen as dismantling oversight mechanisms for over $3 billion in annual tax incentives [1][2][5].
2. **However**, the Coalition proposed relatively modest changes compared to Labor's 2012 reforms.
The proposed 1.5% cut was smaller than Labor's previous reductions, and ultimately was blocked by the Senate [6][7].
3. **The claim's framing is misleading** in suggesting the Coalition uniquely undermined R&D support.
ABC Fact Check confirmed the Coalition cut science and research spending to historic lows [3], but Labor also implemented significant R&D tax concession reductions when in government.
4. **The advisory committee's abolition** can be viewed either as:
- Removing oversight for billions in tax breaks (critical view)
- Streamlining government and reducing bureaucratic overhead (supportive view)
- Eliminating a body created by political opponents (cynical view)
5. **Both parties have treated R&D tax policy as negotiable** when budgets are tight.
This is not a unique Coalition failing but a systemic issue in Australian innovation policy where research funding is often the first target for savings.
**International context:**
Australia's government R&D spending as a percentage of GDP (0.441% in 2013) ranked 18th out of 20 OECD countries, ahead of only Greece and the Slovak Republic [3].
Both parties have treated R&D tax policy as adjustable for budgetary purposes
The claim presents this as a unique Coalition failing, when in reality it represents bipartisan treatment of R&D policy as a budget adjustment mechanism.
Both parties have treated R&D tax policy as adjustable for budgetary purposes
The claim presents this as a unique Coalition failing, when in reality it represents bipartisan treatment of R&D policy as a budget adjustment mechanism.