Assessment and review

Acknowledgement of application

You will receive an acknowledgement from the Australia Council within six weeks of the closing date. The acknowledgement will include your application number, confirmation of the category to which you have applied, and the date by which additional support material must be submitted. Please quote your application number when you contact the Australia Council about your application. The acknowledgement is sent out before your application is checked for eligibility.

Eligibility check

Staff will check that your application is eligible according to the general eligibility requirements and the eligibility requirements for the relevant grant category. If your application is ineligible, you will be advised of the reasons for this and your application will be returned to you.

Decision-making

Peer assessment and decisions at arm’s length from the Australian Government are fundamental tenets of the Australia Council’s structure and decision-making process.

Grant applications are assessed and policies determined by peers, defined by the Australia Council as people who, by virtue of their knowledge and experience, are equipped to make a fair and informed assessment of artistic work and grant applications.

Assessment of your application

Your application will be assessed against the published selection criteria for the relevant grant category.

Assessments of applications and grant decisions are made primarily on the basis of the information supplied by you in your application and accompanying support material. Those making the decisions may also take into account information from other sources, such as:

Their attendance at performances and other events
Reports from members of the register of peers who may be asked to provide formal assessments of designated works
Reviews, videos and recordings, referee reports and other material
Any previous Australia Council grant acquittal reports and performance agreements you may have completed
Communication with state and territory arts agencies.

While your application may meet the stated selection criteria, you are not guaranteed a grant. The Australia Council receives many more applications than it can support. The success of your application rests ultimately on the merits of your proposal against published criteria and in competition with all the other applications considered for funding. Even if successful, your application may not be funded to the amount you have requested.

Conflict of interest code

The Australia Council’s conflict of interest code ensures that any conflicts of interest, whether actual or perceived, do not influence discussion about, or decisions on, grant applications. The Code requires that grant applications be deemed ineligible when a member of the peer body making the grant decision is also the applicant or is the sole or major beneficiary of the grant through a third party.

The Code requires that members of the Australia Council, its boards, committees, advisory bodies, peers drawn from the register of peers, and staff disclose any actual or perceived conflict of interest in any matter to be considered at any Australia Council meeting in which they are formally involved.

Members and staff are obliged to disclose their interests (actual or perceived) before the relevant assessment meeting. Depending on the nature and extent of the conflict, they may be required to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed and a decision is made. Their disclosure and departure from the meeting is formally recorded in the minutes of the meeting and such members do not assess the identified application.

Members of boards, committees and advisory bodies have an obligation to maintain a high standard of conduct, acting with integrity, objectivity and independence at all times and to avoid any conduct that might be regarded as disreputable.

The role of Australia Council staff

The role of Australia Council staff is to:

Provide information and advice to the Council, its boards, committees and advisory bodies to assist their determination of policy and their assessment of grant applications
Provide information to potential applicants for grants
Administer and monitor grant categories to enable a flexible, fair and efficient assessment of applications in the interest of both the decision-making peers and the applicants.

Australia Council program officers do not decide whether an application is successful or not. Any information you receive from Australia Council staff should be seen as information only - you should not alter your circumstances or act upon expectations arising from such information.

The Council has delegated authority to certain senior staff to make grant decisions:

On out-of-time applications within prescribed limits
In relation to activities and strategic initiative programs which have been approved at Council, board or committee meetings. These are subject to compliance with the budgetary framework and processes approved by the Council.

The Council, or the relevant board, committee or advisory body, receives reports of all grants approved in this way.

Notification of grant decision

Please do not contact the Australia Council to find out if your grant application has been successful. Notification dates for grant decisions are advised under each grant category. You will receive a formal letter by post notifying you of the outcome of your grant application by this date. Please inform us promptly of any change of address or contact details.

Getting a funding decision reconsidered

If you have reason to believe that the proper process of assessment was not followed for your grant application or other funding proposal, you may request that a funding decision be reconsidered.

You can request reconsideration only on the following five grounds:

The person(s) making the decision failed to take into account material that was relevant to the decision as part of the assessment process. For example, the person(s) making the decision did not consider all the required support material submitted with your application or proposal
The person(s) making the decision considered material that was irrelevant to the decision. This includes discriminating against you on grounds of your race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or intellectual impairment, religious belief or any other similar basis irrelevant to the decision
The preparation of your application or proposal was adversely affected by incorrect or misleading advice given by staff of the Australia Council or by members of the Australia Council, its boards or committees
The person(s) making the decision had a conflict of interest, such as a direct or indirect financial interest, or a personal interest, in the outcome of your application or proposal resulting in a decision based on matters other than the merits of the application or proposal
The person(s) making the decision took account of a matter adverse to your application or proposal - outside the matters outlined in this publication under ‘How we process your application’ - without bringing that matter to your attention and inviting your comment on it.

Your request for a review of the decision-making process must be made in writing to the secretary of Council and must be received within 28 days from the date of the letter notifying you of the decision about your application or proposal.

To be eligible, your request must state the ground(s) on which you believe your application or proposal was not properly assessed and give your reasons for claiming that ground. The secretary of the Australia Council checks requests for review to ensure they are eligible to proceed to the decisions review committee. For your request to be eligible, the reason/s you state must be relevant to the ground/s for review that you have claimed. If your request is found to be ineligible the secretary of the Australia Council will advise you in writing of the reasons for that decision.

The Australia Council’s decisions review committee only assesses eligible requests. Its function is to review the decision-making process for a particular funding decision to ensure that correct procedures have been followed, not to reconsider the merits of an application or proposal.