Australia May Have a Chief Scientist But Who in the Government Pays Any Attention to Him. (January 3, 2007)

    On December 12, 2006 in an ABC interview Australia's Chief Scientist, Jim Peacock told Sabra Lane:

We calculated [the time frame], and did it as carefully as we were able to, I mean it's all educated guesswork, if you like, we felt that the 10 years was probably an underestimate, and we felt 15 years was more likely to be the case, even if, you know, we started on some of the things that needed to be done in the near future... in particular, we were mindful of the lack of trained people in Australia at the moment and the numbers needed for people to run, to develop, build and run such power stations.

Not to worry, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, according to a statement released by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s (ANSTO) has announced the Nuclear Industry Graduate Programme.

According to ANSTO:

“The ANSTO Graduate Recruitment Programme will recruit 15 Australian graduates each year beginning in 2008 and is designed to attract and retain key talent to alleviate identified skill shortages,” Minister Bishop said.

“This four year career development program offers a unique opportunity to develop a solid career in the growing nuclear industry.

“The program’s key focus will be on science, engineering and information technology so there is great potential for progression. It also offers overseas secondments and professional development opportunities.

“For nuclear science and technology education the initiative is very exciting and will further increase Australia’s expertise in this field.

“On completion of the program the applicant will have the skills necessary to either continue work at ANSTO or find work in the nuclear industry overseas or in related industries.

“The program has a strong mentoring aspect and the successful candidates will get an opportunity to work in a variety of areas across the ANSTO site.”

Harking back to Dr Peacock's summary of the findings of the expert group he chaired, it appears that Ms Bishop has hidden talents, cloning of mature trained adults among them.