Editorial 26 February 2002

The Hon Peter McGauran, MP was appointed minister for science under Dr. Brendan Nelson following the reelection of the Coalition on November 10^th last year. From that time until today, he has distributed three media releases. The first in it's entirety is given below:

Priority Setting - Science

13/2/02

Science was recognised as a vital part of the Howard Government’s third term agenda, during the ceremony to officially open the 40th Parliament in Canberra.

Yesterday’s speech to Senators and Members by Governor-General Dr Peter Hollingworth, singled out science and innovation as a key area of focus for the Coalition Government over the next three years.

Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran said the Government recognised the immense importance of science and innovation for Australia’s future prosperity.

"Science is firmly on the Howard Government’s agenda from day one
of the 40th Parliament," Mr McGauran said.

"It’s an exciting time to be involved in the science community and the opening speech is a strong signal to everyone involved in science and innovation activities."

The following are extracts taken from the Governor-General’s speech:

Recognising the vital link between science and business in building a prosperous future, an important focus for the new Education, Science and Training portfolio will be the continuing implementation of Backing Australia’s Ability, which commits an extra $3 billion to supporting research, commercialisation and skills development.

As part of this effort, the government has initiated a process to develop national research priorities to assist and guide research funding decisions across a range of government funded research programs.

The government expects to announce these research priorities towards the end of this year.

In today’s global economy, knowledge and skills development provide the essential platform for business competitiveness and community prosperity.

The second, just released, refers to CSIRO's Dr. Paul Welling's appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University.  Mr. McGauran says, "In many ways, the appointment is recognition for the Australia(sic) science community which continues to make a major contribution throughout the world." Its interesting to note that Dr. Welling in accepting the appointment told Lancaster University commented that he "is looking forward to the challenge of working in a first class research intensive university in one of the world's most competitive higher education sectors." Just how that reflects on CSIRO is a matter of conjecture. However, it must be added that Dr Welling, born in Nottingham, was a student at Lancaster Royal Grammar School from 1966 - 72. He received his  PhD from the University of East Anglia, so in a sense he's returning "home".

The third is a transcript of an ABC Earthbeat segment dealing with the proposed new Sydney based nuclear reactor.

The first quarter of the year is nearly ended, the reelected Coalition with its new minister for Education, Science and Training and specific minister for Science has been in office over 100 days, and so far as any real changes in the Federal government's science policy is concerned we have Dr. Nelson proclaiming from "Olympus" that one-third of the Australian Research Council's grant for the next five years is to be channeled into four specific research areas, materials science, complex systems, genomics and gene expression, and photonics, to the annoyance of many of the scientific community who were not only not consulted, they had hardly had a whiff of what was happening.

To exacerbate the problems for both science and higher education Nature's Peter Pockley reported last month, and it is reemphasised in the section of the Governor-General's address referred to by Mr McGauran, "Australia's hard-pressed universities can expect no financial relief from the new government until May of next year at the earliest, says Brendan Nelson." And Pockley quoting The Minister for Education, Science and Training, "The universities have been reviewed to death we know what the problems and challenges are. [A consultative panel will] propose concrete changes in university governance, working conditions and the way in which specialist strengths are split between universities." So far the membership of the panel has not been released, and the degree to which representative bodies such as the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee or the Australian Academy of Science, to name only two, is undisclosed. Another pronouncement from the home of the greater gods does seem a distinct possibility. One might think that at the very least the tyro minister might consider seeking suggestions not only locally but from his Canadian governmental counterparts and knowledgeable US and British academics.  However, any advice given would probably be accompanied with assessments of costings and one aspect arises repeatedly in discussions about what to do for and with research, development and higher education. It must not be complicated, lengthy, expensive or controversial. And above all it must not be courageous. Sir Humphrey's and Sir Frank's words would seem to continuing to echo through the Department of Science, Education and Training like the clarion's call.
   

Alex Reisner
The Funneled Web