David Pocock (ACT, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Science (Senator Ayres) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

I asked the Hon. Minister Ayres what I thought was quite a serious question—why, for the first time in history, NCRIS doesn't have funding over the forward estimates in the budget. Regrettably, as is the case for some in politics, he pivoted to a personal attack and also went on to say that his government has invested more in science than any other government, which is flat-out wrong. I know Labor doesn't like to talk about the troubled Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, but that Labor government invested billions more in science and innovation than this one has—and they talked about it a lot more too. They had a whole range of investments, including $3 billion of additional investment in CSIRO—not $300 million, but $3 billion. Former senator Kim Carr was awarded the prestigious Academy Medal by the Australian Academy of Science in 2022—only the second politician to be awarded that medal; the first one was Bob Hawke.

I think Minister Ayres also sold Independents short in his answer today. Yes, we push and make things uncomfortable—as we see in the Senate during question time. And he's correct; I have not delivered a roundabout for Canberra, but I've also never had a single Canberran ask me for another roundabout in Canberra. What I have had asked for is action on things like lobbying, where we now have the government moving; funding for CSIRO, which, to the government's credit, we now have from the government; and looking at legislation. My team pored over the government's tax changes and identified the widow tax, which we're now having a debate about. We've seen changes to things like funding for the Upper Murrumbidgee, additional money for investment in social and affordable housing, and more investment in the ACT when it comes to bulk-billing. That is what the community wants, not necessarily more roundabouts. I hope that, in future question times, we will also get answers to our questions.

Question agreed to.