The email below has just been received. It is a variation on the
standard form letter response that others have received. Perhaps there
is some light at the end of the tunnel. At least we know the date now
when our fate will be decided. 

One encouraging thing is that Ian Castles, former Head of the ABS, has
written a very supportive letter on our behalf. As a result he has been
invited to join the ABS deliberations at the end of this month. I am
hopeful that having someone of his standing there will advance our
cause.

John Lodewijks


-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 2:45 PM
To: John Lodewijks
Cc: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Revisions to the ASRC [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Dear Professor Lodewijks

Thank you for your email to the Australian Statistician, Brian Pink.   I
am replying on behalf of the ABS as my area has responsibility for the
review of the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC).

Your concerns with regard to the proposed treatment of Economic History
and History of Economic Thought have been formally noted by the review
team and we will not finalise our recommendations in this regard until
we have considered input from all interested parties.   We have already
received a number of submissions similar to yours and will evaluate
these shortly after the deadline for submissions (14 September 2007).
We intend to consult with you further after we have evaluated these
submissions.  Please note that a final decision is not due until
November 2007.

We consider your argument to have substance and without wishing to
pre-empt the outcome of these considerations, you should take some
encouragement from the fact that the status of the initial draft
proposal is very low. It was based largely on the relatively low amount
R&D expenditure reported for these fields in recent years.   This is
only one of the criteria being used for the review.   Your email alludes
to other measures of importance such as Ph.D completions and DEST
publications and these will also be taken into account in finalising the
review's recommendations.

We will endeavour to get back to you by the end of September with an
update on this proposal.

Regards,


Steve

Steve Crabb
Branch Head
Integration and Innovation Statistics
Macro-economics and Integration Group
Australian Bureau of Statistics

Ph (02) 6252 7983
Mob 0408 266 379
Fax 02 6252 8045