Annex H - ASPI by the numbers
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is a wholly owned Commonwealth company formed in 2001 as an independent, non-partisan think tank. ASPI receives funding from Australian and overseas governments, industry and civil society groups for sponsorship, research and project support. ASPI remains independent in the content of our research and in all editorial judgements and employs a rigorous internal and external peer review process.
ASPI’s sources of funding are identified in our annual report, online at www.aspi.org.au and in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section of individual publications.
For the 2019–20 financial year, this funding is broken down as shown in Table 14 and Figure 9.
Table 14: Revenue, 2019–20
Funding source | Amount | % of total |
Department of Defence core funding | $4,000,000.00 | 35% |
Federal government agencies | $3,636,542.91 | 32% |
State and territory government agencies | $121,525.00 | 1% |
Overseas government agencies | $1,891,206.43 | 17% |
Defence industries | $369,924.91 | 3% |
Private sector | $1,241,364.20 | 11% |
Civil society and universities | $151,533.26 | 1% |
Total | $11,412,096.71 |
* In addition, ASPI received a total of $148,218.00 from events and miscellaneous income.
Figure 9: Sources of revenue, 2019–20
1: Australian Department of Defence
The Australian Department of Defence makes a single annual core funding payment of $4,000,000.
2: Other Australian federal government agencies
In addition to the core funding provided by the Department of Defence, the following Australian federal government departments and agencies provided funding, as shown in Table 15.
Table 15: Australian federal government funding (non-Defence), 2019–20
Department or agency | Purpose | Amount |
.au Domain Administration Ltd | .auDA test tool project | $276,969.66 |
Attorney-General’s Department | Counterterrorism and ICPC sponsorship | $205,000.00 |
Australian Civil-Military Centre | Pacific Peacekeeping project | $90,724.55 |
Department of Defence | ICPC sponsorship | $105,645.13 |
Australian Mission to the UN | Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping project | $11,444.00 |
Australian Office Taipei | Taiwan track dialogue sponsorship | $12,000.00 |
Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Limited | ICPC sponsorship | $40,000.00 |
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment | ASPI advisory service | $25,000.00 |
Defence Portfolio | Professional development: Symposium and Better Policy Program | $341,183.78 |
Defence Portfolio | NA Think Tank Symposium, IKAHAN Fellows | $111,100.00 |
Defence Portfolio | Sydney Quadrilateral Dialogue | $210,000.00 |
Defence Portfolio | Professional development: Senior Executive program | $9,000.00 |
Defence Portfolio | Professional development: Executive program | $334,000.00 |
Defence Portfolio | ICPC project | $253,950.00 |
Defence Portfolio | ASPI–CASG Austeyr rifle book | $65,000.00 |
Defence Portfolio | ASPI–CASG Bushmaster book | $45,454.55 |
Defence Portfolio | Skilling Northern Australia project | $8,455.85 |
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | e-Governance workshops Indo-Pacific, UNGGE ASEAN project, critical technology project | $477,153.83 |
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | Risk and Resilience Pacific project | $40,000.00 |
Department of Home Affairs | Media project | $150,000.00 |
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | ICPC sponsorship | $50,000.00 |
Federal government | ASPI research and projects | $198,863.64 |
National Archives of Australia | ICPC sponsorship | $20,833.33 |
Services Australia | ICPC sponsorship and professional development Strategic Framework project 2.1 | $554,764.59 |
Total | $3,636,542.91 |
3: Australian state and territory government agencies
The following funding was received from Australian state and territory government departments and agencies, as shown in Table 16.
Table 16: Australian state and territory governments, funding, 2019–20
Department or agency | Purpose | Amount |
Northern Territory Government | North of 26 degrees south project | $112,000.00 |
Queensland Police Service | Counterterrorism workshop | $9,525.00 |
Total | $121,525.00 |
4: Overseas government agencies
The following funding was received from overseas government agencies, as shown in Table 17. Where appropriate, ASPI reports funding under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme at https://www.ag.gov.au/integrity/foreign-influence-transparency-scheme.
Table 17: Overseas government agencies, funding, 2019–20
Department or agency | Purpose | Amount |
Embassy of Israel | Beersheba Dialogue preparation meeting | $909.09 |
Embassy of Japan | Defence and Strategy Pacific project | $39,364.96 |
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands | Support for ‘The party speaks for you’ research project | $20,000.00 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office—UK Embassy in China | Support for ‘Uyghurs for sale’ research project | $18,334.00 |
US State Department (via Institute for War and Peace Reporting) | Multiple research projects, including ‘Mapping China’s technology giants’ | $762,559.52 |
US Department of Defense (via Alion Science and Technology Corporation) | Smart tech project | $201,136.68 |
NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence | Social media research project | $5,799.12 |
Department or agency | Purpose | Amount |
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office | Multi-year UNGGE ASEAN cyber capacity-building project | $437,026.04 |
US Department of State | Travel sponsorship | $5,500.26 |
US Embassy, Canberra | Project support for research, including the ‘China defence universities tracker‘ | $400,576.76 |
Total | $1,891,206.43 |
5: Defence industries
The following funding was received from defence-related private-sector organisations, as shown in Table 18.
Table 18: Defence-related private sector organisations, funding, 2019–20
Organisation | Purpose | Amount |
Lockheed Martin | The Strategist sponsorship | $25,000.00 |
Naval Group Australia | ASPI sponsorship | $100,000.00 |
Northrop Grumman | ASPI sponsorship | $67,500.00 |
Rafael | Bersheeba Dialogue sponsorship | $20,000.00 |
Raytheon | ASPI Sponsorship | $19,090.91 |
Saab Australia | ASPI sponsorship | $25,000.00 |
Thales Australia | ASPI conference, ICPC and The Strategist sponsorship | $113,334.00 |
Total | $369,924.91 |
6: Private sector
The following funding was received from private-sector organisations, as shown in Table 19.
Table 19: Private-sector organisations, funding, 2019–20
Organisation | Purpose | Amount |
Amazon Web Services Australia Pty Ltd | ICPC sponsorship | $125,000.00 |
Cisco Systems Australia Pty Ltd | ICPC sponsorship | $50,000.00 |
CT Intelligence and Insights | Speakers’ fees | $569.02 |
Engineers Australia | Risk and Resilience project | $32,272.73 |
Facebook Australia Pty Ltd | ICPC sponsorship | $100,000.00 |
Fortinet | ICPC sponsorship | $50,000.00 |
Google Australia Pty Limited | ICPC sponsorship | $75,000.00 |
IQPC Ltd | Travel sponsorship | $4,409.95 |
Jacobs Australia | ICPC sponsorship | $40,000.00 |
Kiah Consulting | Professional development: workshop | $45,000.00 |
Lendlease | ASPI sponsorship | $10,000.00 |
Macquarie Telecom Pty Ltd | Cyber policy brief and report launch | $70,000.00 |
Microsoft Pty Ltd | ICPC sponsorship | $158,272.74 |
Northern Territory Airports Pty Ltd | Fuel Reserve project | $45,000.00 |
Omni Executive | Risk and Resilience Project | $19,520.53 |
Oracle Australia | National Security research project and podcast sponsorship | $70,000.00 |
Palo Alto Networks (Australia) Pty Ltd | ICPC sponsorship | $80,000.00 |
Senetas Corporation Limited | ICPC sponsorship | $25,000.00 |
Splunk Technology | ICPC sponsorship | $50,000.00 |
Twitter Inc. | ICPC research support and sponsorship | $147,319.23 |
UpGuard, Inc | ICPC sponsorship | $44,000.00 |
Total | $1,241,364.20 |
7: Civil society and universities
The following funding was received from civil society organisations and Australian and overseas universities, as shown in Table 20.
Table 20: Civil society organisations and universities, funding, 2019–20
Organisation | Purpose | Amount |
Australian Computer Society | ICPC project | $39,000.00 |
Australian National University | ICPC staff secondment fee | $3,030.30 |
Bond University | Travel sponsorship | $366.36 |
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Research collaboration | $11,119.96 |
German Marshall Fund | Travel sponsorship | $1,801.09 |
German Marshall Fund | Travel sponsorship | $2,393.28 |
Japan Institute of International Affairs | Travel sponsorship to participate in Japan Track 1.5 dialogue | $5,603.79 |
The Pratt Foundation | Bersheeba dialogue sponsorship | $70,000.00 |
The University of Melbourne | Travel sponsorship to participate in counterterrorism workshop in Brussels | $1,857.26 |
University of British Columbia | Workshop in Vancouver | $16,361.22 |
Total | $151,533.26 |
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https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australian-strategic-policy-institute-limited/reporting-year/2019-20-38