Nobelist Peter Doherty Speaks Out About $400 million Prospective Cuts to Medical Research. (April 12, 2011)

Peter Doherty won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and was the 1997 Australian of the year.

And some years back The Sydney Morning Herald's Deborah Smith reported that then Prime Minister, John Howard, once told the Nobel Laureate: "if you want to effect political decisions you should voice your concerns publicly".

And that's just exactly what he's doing now in today's  National Times. Below we excerpt his opening and closing paragraphs:

The rumoured $400 million cut to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) budget would be disastrous for Australian science, for the intellectual health and international stature of our leading universities, hospitals and research institutes, and for the personal futures of that bright cadre of young, enthusiastic researchers that has been nurtured here since the significant increases to funding that occurred under recent governments.

The latest ''Australian'' Nobel prize in medicine (2009) went to Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of California, San Francisco. After a couple of drab experiences in Australia, I spent most of my scientific life in the US. Returning near the end of my career (and I won't be applying for further NHMRC, or other, federal grants), I had thought that political attitudes had changed and that we were finally starting to acknowledge scientific excellence and discovery. Coming from a Labor/government school background, I value the Australian tradition of ''a fair go'', including for those with real intellectual ability.

It would be very dispiriting to see an ALP administration abandon that vision and drive yet another generation of young scientific stars into exile.

 [Note: graphic updated 14/04/11]