Australia's Chief Scientist Sounds a Note of Caution. (August 13, 2007)

    The nation's Chief Scientist, Jim Peacock, recently spoke to The Age's Julia Proctor and pointed to several warning signs regarding the state of Australian science and science education.

"I am really concerned a number of initiatives the Government has taken in support of science have clearly been in favour of applied science and shorter-term applications. You have to look to the balance all the time," and he went on to say, "Not all parts of our science fabric are as they should be."

If Dr Peacock elaborated, Ms Proctor doesn't report it. It would be or should be of interest whether the Office of the Chief Scientist has made attempts at formulating far sighted science policy and if so if it has been communicated to the major political parties.

However, Dr Peacock did point to certain matters that cause him disquiet:

... international collaboration is very poorly supported in Australia, In genomics, for example, where Australia could play a bigger role if it had the funds, we are often requested by scientists in other countries to be involved but we are so severely limited.

The danger signals are there. We need to take effective actions. It's not just about investment levels, but also about how you nurture top scientists.

[And] we are having problems attracting the best students out of school into science. We are also having problems getting them to sign up in the last two years of high school. We have to treat this malady right from the very beginning of the school system. It's something I am very much concerned with.

Too often in Australia we are a bit fond of patting ourselves on the back, but we don't necessarily recognise we may become a little inward looking and isolated and kid ourselves about the excellence of our work. It's something we have to be wary about.

Recently we reported some observations made by Stanley Fish on the state of Florida's university system: "The conditions that leave a university system depressed have been a long time in the making and will take time to reverse. Five straight years of steadily increased funding, tuition raises and high-profile faculty hires would send a message that something really serious is happening. Ten more years of the same, and it might actually happen."

To date there is little indication that such concerns affect the federal Coalition government as pertains to its higher education and research policies.