17 of Australia's Foremost Scientists Show Some Bottle. (September 29, 2004)

    In a front page article in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald Mark Metherell and Aban Contractor report that Australia's sole extant Nobel Laureate, Peter Doherty, the former head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Sir Gustav Nossal, and the recipient of this year's Prime Minister's Science Prize, bionic ear pioneer Graeme Clark are among the signatories to a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Leader of the Labor Opposition, Mark Latham asking why in amongst all the promised largess there is no mention of increased funding for medical research.

Mr Howard's reply appears to have been the equivalent of, "I already gave at the office." According to the SMH report, "Mr Howard said yesterday that the Government's $600 million increase in 2000 was 'one of our proudest achievements', but appeared to rule out any further increase in funding." He is quoted in the  Herald as saying, ""If you have already adequately resourced something, then you have adequately resourced it."

Today, in his policy launch, Mark Latham announced new election promises which would cost about $3.7 billion over the next four years and said its centrepiece Medicare Gold policy would cost $2.9 billion. There was no mention of additional funding for medical research.

All things considered it's just a matter of determining where the votes are, how many, and if they're in marginal seats. And in case you believe we're being overly cynical here is an excerpt from this month's editorial in Australasian Science: