Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Science isn't failing; the government is failing science. They ignore warnings from climate scientists, they sideline experts and now they're letting our national science agency be gutted. Australia has a scientific legacy to be proud of, from pioneering global agriculture to world-leading Antarctic research and medical breakthroughs like the cochlear implant. First Nations people have stewarded land, water and biodiversity with scientific knowledge stretching back 50,000 years.

We are a nation built on science. CSIRO scientists carry that legacy today. They're on the front line of the biggest challenges of our time, from bushfire modelling to fighting antimicrobial resistance and breakthrough work on renewable energy. These are the people building our future, and what does Labor do? They hollow them out. This government should be buffering and celebrating Australian research, not bulldozing it—including by tackling one of the biggest structural barriers in the field: gender inequity in STEM leadership. If we want women to lead in STEM, we need to back them before they hit the glass ceiling. Programs like WILD for STEM show exactly what's possible when we invest early and properly: 100 per cent of participants stay in STEM. More than half secure new roles or promotions, and nearly a third land board positions within a year.

Australia's scientists punch way above their weight, even under insecure funding, gender gaps and a global political climate increasingly allergic to the truth. Scientists are the people who can pull us out of climate disasters, pandemics and extinction crises. They get us out of the messes that politicians help to create. So here's the message: you do not slash science. You protect it, you invest in it and you back the people who make Australia smarter and safer.