Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this notice of motion and join in congratulating the organisers of National Science Week and the over 1,000 organisers who have arranged events around the nation aimed at engaging Australians of all ages with the wonders of science. In this week it would be wonderful to have a government which demonstrated a vision and a plan when it came to science and research. Instead we have a government which has demonstrated short-sighted cuts totalling more than a billion dollars in these areas in its first two budgets.

It would be wonderful to celebrate a government which understood the importance of Australia's publicly funded research agencies. Instead we have a government which is actively seeking to undermine those agencies, slashing funding and jobs. It would be wonderful to have a government which understood and advocated for basic research. But we have a government which is a complete failure in that regard. And it would be wonderful in this week to celebrate a government which had a vision or a commitment for the future when it came to creating and sustaining the jobs of the future. Again, we have a government which has demonstrated its inability to move in that direction. In short, we have a government which is an embarrassment.

Going back to National Science Week, we know that it is our annual celebration of science and technology and that thousands of individuals, from students and scientists to chefs and musicians, are involved. Science Week is a great opportunity to recognise how important it is to promote and invest in science in our schools, universities, TAFE and industry. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits among the general public and to encourage younger people to become fascinated by the world in which we live. We have seen the opposition leader, Mr Shorten, visiting the students at Canberra College this week to celebrate National Science Week.

National Science Week runs each year in August and features more than 1,000 events across Australia, including events in my own state from Edge Hill to Macleay Island. I encourage everyone to log onto the excellent Science Week website for information. Although Science Week officially continues until 23 August, I note that on the website you will find a number of very interesting activities which will continue beyond that date. En-lightening Engineering at Saint Benedict's College at Mango Hill runs until 31 August. We have an Australian bat clinic open week which runs until 23 August at Advancetown. We have a sound map for National Science Week at South Bank which runs until 23 August. We have already had a storm chasing presentation at Banyo library. I also want to mention a wonderful opportunity to meet our scientists at the Queensland Museum and Sciencentre at South Brisbane. There are some fantastic opportunities to celebrate Science Week and it would be good to celebrate all of those things.

In his contribution Senator Canavan laments the fact that we actually want to talk about the politics and the government in our speech, but it is important in this place that we do look at this important issue. It is such an important issue for the future. We know that it is important for us to have a government which properly invests in this area. But after two great years of government—as the government has indicated—what have we got at the moment? Unemployment is up from 5.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent. For the first time in 20 years 800,000 Australians are out of work. The Australian economy is stuck in below-trend growth of 2.3 per cent. We have new taxes and charges. The tax to GDP ratio is the highest it has been since Prime Minister Howard's time and it is rising each and every budget year. Consumer sentiment is 11 per cent below where it was at the election and the budget deficit doubled in just the last 12 months.

It has not been a good two years for science either, and I note that Senator Bilyk has touched on a number of these things. In the last two years $114 million has been cut from the CSIRO. The Australian Research Council has had a $75 million cut. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has had a $27½ million cut. The Cooperative Research Centres program has been cut by $80 million. The Research Training Scheme has been cut by $173.7 million. Commercialisation Australia has been abolished and had a $260 million cut. National ICT Australia is to be abolished, with a cut of $84 million. Geoscience Australia has had a $16.1 million cut. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation has had a cut of $120 million. The Australian Institute of Marine Science has had a smaller cut, comparatively speaking, of $8 million, but having been to the Australian Institute of Marine Science near Townsville earlier in the year I must say that this is an area where I am particularly disappointed. I did take the opportunity to have a look at the National Sea Simulator at the AIMS facility. The National Sea Simulator is a world-class marine research aquarium facility for tropical marine organisms, in which scientists can conduct cutting-edge research. Using the SeaSim, as it is called, Australian and international scientists can research the impact of complex environmental changes with large, long-term experiments in which they can manipulate key environmental factors. It is a world-class facility, and I know that it is the envy of many other nations who would like to have that type of facility. The history of the SeaSim is that in 2010 the Australian government awarded the AIMS funding for the development of the National Sea Simulator through the Super Science Marine and Climate Initiative, with support from the Education Investment Fund. Having seen that firsthand, it is very disappointing for me to see the AIMS having to scale back the use of the newly opened National Sea Simulator and reducing research on marine biodiversity.

Well over $3 billion in funding were slashed from programs, research and organisations. What concerns me is this government's clear contempt for science. The rest of the world seems to be bemused by this government's contemptuous attitude towards science. Senator Canavan elaborated on the scepticism in relation to areas where there is a high degree of consensus amongst the leading scientists. We only have to look at this government's approach to climate change. Going further, how could we forget the education minister, who earlier this year proudly held Future Fellowships and research infrastructure funding hostage to his ideological pursuit of university deregulation and $100,000 degrees. Holding a political gun to the head of Australia's most eminent researchers—that was the 'fixer's' fix. Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt, summed it up perfectly when he said, 'This is not the way a grown-up country behaves.' I think senators are aware of the comments from BCA President Catherine Livingstone, in March of this year. She said:

… how have we come to this? … How have we come to a point where a government feels it can use assets, publically funded to the tune of over $2 billion, as a hostage in a political process? … Where it is prepared to jeopardise over 1500 highly skilled research jobs and the continuing operation of 27 national facilities? … Shame on us.

And I say shame on the government for that terrible and irresponsible approach.

Unfortunately all we have seen from this government is one attack after another. In the government's first budget it sought to cut almost $900 million from science and research, and unfortunately the government's second budget did little to reverse the savage cuts of the first budget. But in contrast, Labor does have a proud record on science and research. The Science, Research and Innovation Budget Tables, which were released earlier this month, show that investment under Labor increased by more than 50 per cent between 2007-8 and 2013-14. In stark contrast, the current government is projecting that its investment in Australia's innovation capacity will actually fall by 3.7 per cent over its first two years.

Labor is looking to the future, unlike the current government. We know that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations today require skills in science, technology, engineering and maths—STEM. Employment in STEM occupations is projected to grow at almost twice the pace of other occupations. Yet in 2012, only 16 per cent of higher education students in Australia graduated in STEM-related subjects, compared with 52 per cent in Singapore and 41 per cent in China. Labor has announced initiatives that will prepare our children, our workforce and our industries for the changing economy. These policies align closely with the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute's recommendations to boost Australia's mathematics capacity.

I think senators are aware of Labor's approaches in respect of STEM teacher training. We will establish a fund to support 25,000 primary and secondary school teachers over five years to undertake professional development in STEM disciplines. We will encourage STEM graduates by offering 25,000 'teach STEM' scholarships over five years to address the shortage of qualified teachers. We will provide 100,000 STEM award degrees, 20,000 a year for five years, which will provide a financial incentive for students to enrol in and complete a STEM undergraduate degree, in recognition of the significant public benefit of growing Australia's STEM capacity. These are the sorts of things which a government that is fair dinkum about these types of issues should be doing, but it is left to Labor to chart a more responsible approach when it comes to science research and innovation. Giving every child in Australia the opportunity to learn coding and computational thinking in school is a visionary approach, and we have announced initiatives that will prepare Australia for the future.

But unfortunately, in contrast, the government continues to be stuck in the past. I noted that, in response to Labor's initiatives with respect to coding in schools, this year in question time the Prime Minister—when he says 'he' he is referring to the opposition leader—said:

He says that he wants primary school kids to be taught coding so that they can get the jobs of the future. Does he want to send them all out to work at the age of 11? Is that what he wants to do?

That is an infantile response to a legitimate issue which has been not only raised by Labor but supported by the Chief Scientist.

As our economy responds to technological change, it is vital that all Australians are sk illed to be able to participate and secure jobs today and well into the future. Digital proficiency will be a foundation skill as important as reading and numeracy. It will increasingly be the determinant of employment prospects and opportunity.

The Australian Workforce Productivity Agency predicts that in 2025 there could be an undersupply of qualifications for key ICT occupations, with employment projected to grow between 64 and 72 per cent faster than overall employment growth and account for around five per cent of all employment in 2025. Business leaders, industry, demographers and the Chief Scientist are urging for immediate action to prepare for this future demand. Key to this, they say, is to improve dig ital literacy in schools and embed coding in the Australian Curriculum from primary school. Chief Scientist Ian Chubb said:

If the digital economy is an arena, then the skills you need to play include computer programming and coding. Informatics gives us these skills and this event highlights the global nature a nd ferocity of the competition.

The Australian Computer Society said:

In ten years' time, it will be the most common language in the world. You need to teach a language as early as possible to allow for maximum fluency in a child.

Yet there is concern about whether Australian schools are prepared to respond to this challenge. Around 20,000 teachers in science, maths and IT classes never studied these subjects at university.

European countries are investigating this issue and over 12 of them already have computer programing and coding as part of their curriculum and a further seven are in the process of introducing it. Countries, including New Zealand and Singapore , are in the process of including coding in the curriculum. Computer programming and coding is already part of the primary curriculum in England, Belgium , Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, Italy and Greece.

Labor has a very sound approach to science and innovation. I also wish to indicate that I am very pleased with the approach of the Queensland state Labor government with respect to their commitment to science. This is the way that a government should be behaving. They have announced a $180 million investment in innovation, skills, education, business development and start - ups to diversify the Queensland economy and deliver knowledge based jobs now and into the future.

Unlike the Abbott g overnment, the Queensland g overnment is focused on harnessing the opportunities that are available in start-ups, innovation businesses and our science and research base so that the Queensland workers of today will have access to the new jobs of the future. I also note they have $50 million set aside to develop, attract and retain world-class talent and skills by delivering new research fellowships and scholarships to increase research talent ; the Global Partnership Awards to support collaboration between Queensland graduates and entrepreneurs with international companies and institutions ; a future schools review of the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths, including coding and computational science, ICT and robotics so that our kids have the jobs of the future ; and 9 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to link industry and universities through funding opportunities for small and medium enterprises to have postgraduate students work ing in their business on an identified problem or project.

In conclusion , to ensure Australia rema ins competitive internationally, we need a federal government that will make education a national priority. Instead, as I have indicated, we have seen the g overnment make savage cuts to schools , universities, vocational education and research.

This government is an anti-science government . Australia needs to look to the future. This government has no plan for science or innovation. We need a government that truly understands the importance of science, research and innovation for the future economic welfare of our country. We need a government that is committed to supporting these vital areas. This government's cuts will stand condemned by history.