PM office said to be behind Lomborg centre

A research centre linked to controversial Danish academic Bjorn Lomborg was to have been placed in the University of Western Australia through a "corrupt" process initiated by the prime minister's office, parliament has been told.

The university backed out of the proposal, to have been funded by the federal government, after protests by staff and students.

West Australian Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan said on Tuesday that science has been the big loser under the Abbott government.

But, curiously, it found $4 million for the ironically named Australian Consensus Centre, a think-tank which had at its heart a commitment to cherry-pick the scientific evidence which argued against urgent action on climate change, she said.

Ms MacTiernan said education minister Christopher Pyne says the decision to fund the centre at UWA followed a proposal put forward by the university and Dr Lomborg.

But vice chancellor Paul Johnson says the proposal was not initiated by the university.

The proposal arose out of discussions between Dr Lomborg and the government.

"It seems the offer came directly from the prime minister's office and came to UWA only after the Australian Catholic University had rejected it," Ms MacTiernan said.

"Extraordinarily, this special research initiative didn't come through the Australian Research Council or any peer review."

It was a "corrupt process", she said.