5 years ago
GOVERNMENT HIDING EVIDENCE ON ITS SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CUTS
SENATOR THE HON KIM CARR
Why is key information about the nature of the Australian government investment into science, research and innovation is apparently being withheld?
What is the current Minister for Industry, Science and Technology (the sixth in five years) Karen Andrews, hiding?
The 2018 Science, Research and Innovation Budget Tables should have been released at the end of the financial year but we are now into the second quarter of this financial year and still seen nothing.
Last year’s version of the tables showed that in real terms science, research and innovation funding has declined by $358 million since 2013.
Funding for Australian ideas through the Australian Research Council was down by $178 million – almost 20 percent in real terms since 2013.
The CSIRO and ANSTO are also still operating with reduced appropriations in real terms compared to 2013.
It would come as no surprise that these withheld figures will confirm a further reduction in the government’s spending on science, research and innovation.
Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Government talks a big book on science and research, but the facts are very different.
Only a Shorten Labor Government can rebuild Australia’s innovation system to meet the needs of a 21st century advanced industrial economy.
A Shorten Labor Government will work with business, industry, universities and research institutes to boost Australia’s investment in research and development to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030.