Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the honourable senator for her question, coming as she does from Victoria, which is the home of many of our great scientific and research organisations. Investing in Australia's research and science capabilities has been pivotal throughout our history and will continual to be so into our future. It plays an essential role in the quality of our lives, from the economy into our health. That is why we are looking as a nation at where our investment in science and research can be used to most effect in the national interest. We are doing that collaboratively with the science and research community, through our Chief Scientist, and with industry, through Innovation and Science Australia.

We understand that our investment now facilitates the creation of new ideas tomorrow. Looking no further than CSIRO, a world-leading public research body responsible for scientific discoveries that span our history as well as our homes, from some of the most big-picture inventions, like wifi, through to the more mundane, perhaps, but very useful, like Aeroguard. It was CSIRO that designed the world's first plastic bank notes with optical variable devices to help secure currency against forgery, a solution which has brought integrity to our currency system both here and abroad.

CSIRO is not alone. We have critical infrastructure across the government which also quietly contributes to our ongoing success as a country. Recently our investment in the Australian synchrotron assisted the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia's oldest and most venerable research institute, to develop a drug called Venetoclax, a drug which targets chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a prominent cancer that 1,300 people each year are diagnosed with. The use of the synchrotron enabled researchers to map the protein structures of the cancer, allowing a more targeted and effective treatment with fewer side effects. There are countless other examples which highlight the enormous value of our science investment for the nation as a whole.