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ACADEMY HEARTENED BY BACKING AUSTRALIA’S ABILITY II
7 May 2004

The Australian Academy of Science today welcomed the boost to Australia’s science and innovation through the announcement of the Australian Government’s Backing Australia’s Ability – Building our Future through Science and Innovation package.

The Academy’s spokesperson, Professor Kurt Lambeck, said that the continuation of the Backing Australia’s Ability program for a further five years sends a strong signal that the critical importance of longer-term, strategic investment in science is now recognised at the highest levels.

‘Australia’s future prosperity depends on such an investment and it is heartening that the views of the scientific research community have been heard,’ he said.

‘The Academy is also pleased that BAA II incorporates many of the recommendations from the Academy’s September 2003 Policy Statement on Research and Innovation in Australia.

‘However, the benchmark of total government investment in R&D as a percentage of GDP will not be known until next week’s budget announcement. The Academy is in agreement with the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies that this is the real performance measure.

‘For the last decade, the gap between Australia’s gross expenditure on R&D and the OECD average has continued to widen and this is an issue that Australia must address.’

The Academy’s Policy Statement also called for the replacement of the ad hoc nature of support for national research infrastructure. In this respect the Academy applauds the commitment of annual funding in BAA II to support major research infrastructure. There are also new infrastructure funds for independent medical research institutions.

Another recommendation of the Academy’s 2003 Policy Statement called for stronger support for science and mathematics education and BAA II has delivered in this important area.

It is vital that Australia retains a creative scientific community.

The Academy’s Policy Statement on Research and Innovation in Australia is available at www.science.org.au/reports/10september03.pdf.