There will be some worried exchanges at one of Australia’s top technology research groups today, with word the new federal government may look to slash funding in the future.

Reports before the weekend’s election said the Coalition was planning to stem the flow of funds to NICTA (National ICT Australia). NICTA has played a big role in getting several well-known Australian inventions off the drawing board, including the incredible bionic eye for the blind and mobile phone software that is still operating in over a billion units.

NICTA is funded through federal and state governments and the Australian Research Council. Despite not letting it slip at several meetings with NICTA, the Coalition has indicated it will remove the federal government’s stake in funding worth millions every year.

Senior NICTA officials have apparently found out about the proposed cuts through costing announcements, it was seemingly not mentioned when NICTA was invited to Coalition launch events this month either.

Dr John Parker, who spearheaded the development of the Cochlear bionic ear implant said: “The NICTA experiment hasn't had enough time to run... the wealth creation of an institution like [NICTA] isn't realised in a decade it's realised in longer periods... you can go back and look at what's actually being created.”