In around a fortnight, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the 2024鈥�25 Budget.
The financial forecasting and proposed expenditures are eagerly awaited by many Australians 鈥� including the 精东视频, which has long been calling for a comprehensive review of the research and development (R&D) system. This is critical to inform a long-term investment roadmap needed to turn around the decline in R&D expenditure in our country.
In our pre-Budget submission in January, we outlined the pressures our country faces, including from: increasingly extreme weather events; an urgent need to decarbonise; a workforce with inadequate skills for a digital world; threats to national security, global food security and water supply; and how the solution to each of these is underpinned by science.
This month, we reiterated that call in response to the Prime Minister鈥檚 announcement of the intention to legislate a Future Made in Australia Act 鈥� noting there is a fundamental link between science and economic development.
A future 鈥榤ade in Australia鈥� cannot be realised with a science system that is not fit for purpose, which relies on decades-old settings, and where we still have not identified our capability gaps 鈥� let alone planned to address them to meet our national ambitions.
In mid-April, the announcement of a global coral bleaching event by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 鈥� coming amidst widespread bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef 鈥� was a stark reminder that scientific evidence must inform our decisions, and the need for bold, collective action.
The Academy has also provided a statement to the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee inquiry into Australia鈥檚 extinction crisis, where we advised that the situation facing Australia鈥檚 threatened species is dire, and there is a clear need for legislative reform to avoid entrenching the failures of the current, broken framework.
This month also held positive news 鈥� with the Australian researchers who are addressing these challenges being recognised by the Academy鈥檚 honorific awards. Enjoy learning about their work improving monitoring efforts for the Great Barrier Reef, establishing global community-based treatment programs for tropical skin infections, creating nanoparticles that respond in precise ways to light and heat, and much more.
And locally, it was lovely to see such interest in the history of Canberra鈥檚 heritage-listed Shine Dome. The Academy鈥檚 tours at the end of the month 鈥� involving Fellows and Secretariat staff sharing fascinating secrets from the construction of the unique building to the present day 鈥� were completely sold out.
Enjoy this April edition of the Academy newsletter.
Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FREng FTSE
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