The Council

The Council does not employ administrative staff members but pays a fee to the AIC to provide secretariat and administrative services for the Council. These include the provision of internal auditing of the Council's activities as well as participation in the AIC's internal governance structure, which is designed to ensure compliance with statutory and other external requirements aimed at achieving best practice in administrative and financial management. The AIC advises the Council in relation to the need for criminological research as required under the Act.

The Council consists of nine members who represent the Australian Government, states and territories. This composition ensures that areas targeted for research funding reflect both national and state/territory priorities.

The Australian Government representative is appointed by the Attorney-General; state and territory representatives are appointed by the Attorney-General on the nomination of the responsible state or territory minister and their deputies.

The Council meets three times a year and dedicates the meetings to the following specific issues:

• March/April - establish Council strategies and priorities for the forthcoming year
• July/August - target specific areas for consultancies and strategic development
• November - allocate general grants.

The Council funds a Research Fellow, who is located within the AIC and is appointed to carry out research and to support the work of the Council in planning and overseeing funded research and consultancies. Specifically, the Research Fellow develops and undertakes research proposals as directed by the Council and assists in management of the Council's consultancies.

The Research Fellow also provides advice to Council on criminal justice research matters and assists in the preparation of policy documents on areas of specific criminal justice topics as directed by the Council.

There have been six Research Fellows appointed to the CRC since 2000.

The CRC's sole output is:

To support research which is relevant to current and future public policy issues, foster the undertaking of quality criminological research and ensure that CRC supported research is disseminated effectively.