Future Proofing Australia: The Right Answers for Our Future by Brett Mason & Daniel Wood

Author:Brett Mason & Daniel Wood [Mason, Brett & Wood, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780522862461
Google: 47WyEJqBpLcC
Goodreads: 21796593
Publisher: Melbourne Univ. Publishing
Published: 2013-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Science, technology and innovation in Australia’s future

Professor Peter Doherty AC

Beginning with the global financial crisis of 2007 and extending into the problems with the euro-zone countries, the world looks to be in for a rocky financial ride over, perhaps, the next decade or more. As I write this, most of us are very aware that the extraordinary mining boom resulting from the massive expansion of manufacturing in China, Korea and other Asian economies to our north is insulating our nation against the worst effects of the current, international economic instability. But relying on an increasingly dominant non-renewable resource extraction/depletion ‘monoculture’ has obvious dangers. In the long-term, we cannot expect to escape unscathed.

An obvious negative will be the shortage of capital, which may compromise many areas of innovation and development. A key question in the present context is how any ‘discretionary’ component of what may turn out to be increasingly scarce federal dollars should best be used. We have to get this right and, for once, we must be prepared to set aside short-term political expediency. If we are not careful and intelligent when it comes to setting long-term priorities, those of us who have some say now run the risk of leaving a degraded physical, intellectual and economic landscape that will stunt the lives and minds of our children and their children.

Apart from mineral wealth, what are this country’s basic attributes? It is important that we do not think too narrowly about our strengths and inherent advantages. Australia has the unique characteristic of being the only nation on earth that is the sole inhabitant of a massive, continental land mass. The political and legal systems we inherited and developed from models used in Britain and the USA function to ensure stable government, a vigorous and equitable democracy, a free press and relatively little overt corruption in public life. Innovative people want to live and work in communities where any issue can be raised and discussed, ideas and different perspectives are welcome, and there is an active, experimental and higher culture in the arts, music and literature as well as in the sciences. If they have families, they need to be confident that their children will be physically safe, and that they will have access to affordable, quality health care and affordable education from Year 1 through to university. Given the appropriate regulatory settings and long-term investment from both the public and the private sectors that provide funding for the arts and sciences, technology, innovation and higher education, there is little doubt that Australia can continue to attract and to retain talent.

Australia’s southern hemisphere location has, for example, been a major factor in the high status of astronomy in this country. American astronomer and 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics Brian Schmidt has chosen to make his career here, following Dutch-born Bart Bok, and US-educated Olin Eggen and Penny Sackett who served with distinction as Directors of what is now the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Following many decades of

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