The $400 million donated to the health and medical research sector every year could be at risk if the Federal Government's Medical Research Future Fund goes ahead, a survey suggests.
Research Australia says a survey found four out of the 10 people who donate regularly are less likely to do so once the new fund is established with money from the GP co-payment.
Research Australia chief executive Elizabeth Foley says the issue is being raised at the Philanthropy for Health and Medical Research Conference in Melbourne today.
"Anecdotally, we've got evidence and reports that donors were ringing up institutions like the Garvan Institute, Macular Degeneration Foundation and the like saying, 'Well, you're covered now; you don't need to donate; the Government's going to increase health and medical research expenditure'," she said.
"So we decided to put these questions into our polling, just to see how widespread that belief system was, and we found that four out of 10 regular donors thought that they might donate less next year if the Government plans for the Future Fund went ahead."
Ms Foley says it will take a decade for new Medical Research Future Fund to get going.
"I was surprised that there was so poor understanding of when this Medical Research Future Fund would happen and the fact that it's actually going to take about a decade before it gets to the $1 billion payout that's going to go ahead," she said.
"I guess it raises the question in the public's mind as [to] how much is enough for the country to be spending on health and medical research?"
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