Australia's Next Chief Scientist to be Part Timer. (July, 17, 2005)

    Early last year the Senate's Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee was directed by the Senate to examine the workings of the Office of Chief Scientist. The terms of reference were to determine :

            (a) the functioning of the Office of the Chief Scientist;
            (b) potential conflicts of interest arising from the dual role of the Chief Scientist; and
            (c) the development of criteria for the appointment of the Chief Scientist through legislation.

A thumbnail history of the office of the Federal Government's Chief Scientist:

The Office of the Chief Scientist was established in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) in July 1989 shortly after the appointment of the founding Chief Scientist, Professor Ralph Slatyer. He served in the position of Chief Scientist as a full-time public servant until 1992.
    According to DEST, the Office of the Chief Scientist together with the Prime Minister’s Science Council (PMSC), the Coordination Committee on Science and Technology and ASTEC were then part of the Prime Minister’s portfolio. Professor Slatyer’s successor, Professor Ralph Pittman, also filled the position on a full-time basis from 1992 to 1996. In 1990, the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program was established within the Office of the Chief Scientist, which was then a division of PM&C.

    Following the election of the Coalition Government in 1996, the position of Chief Scientist became part-time with the appointment of Professor John Stocker. The Office of the Chief Scientist was also moved from PM&C to the then Department of Industry, Science and Technology.

In August 2004 the committee tabled its 72 page report in which the following two recommendations are of particular pertinence:

The committee recommends that in view of the responsibility and potential workload attached to the Office of the Chief Scientist, and in the light of the potential for conflict of interest associated in particular with a part-time Chief Scientist, the position of the Chief Scientist should be full time.

 

The committee recommends that the position of Chief Scientist should be appointed under public service conditions. In doing so, it also recognises the public education role of this position, and the possibility, given that science and scientific research is contestable, that the occupant of the position may express controversial views. The terms of the appointment should be such that the Office of the Chief Scientist will be subject to public accountability equivalent to that applying to other senior public servants.

Following this May's resignation of Dr Robin Batterham from the office of Chief Scientist, the Australian Government has now advertised for his replacement. The advertisement's introductory statement emphasises:

[The government's] agenda depends on effective partnerships between governments, researchers and business to maximise the substantial financial investment being made to ensure that ideas move smoothly from the generation to end-use. The Chief Scientist has a key role in contributing to this vision.

 

The position of Australian Chief Scientist is a specialist part-time advisory appointment located within the Education, Science and Training portfolio and operating on a whole of government basis.

Two of submissions made to the Senate committee were those of the Australian Academy of Science through its president, Dr Jim Peacock, and the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. Both were strongly in favour for the position being returned to full-time status.

The views of the scientific community appear to be of little consequence in the Coalition Government's determination of science policy.