Evidence and expertise are crucial to “the big challenges facing humanity” Universities Australia chair will tell the National Press Club today

“After a hellish summer of bushfires, floods, drought and coronavirus, the big challenges facing humanity are at an alarming juncture …  Something is changing. That is not just the lived experience of everyday Australians over this longest of summers. It is also the evidence-based warning of our most informed experts,” she will say.

Professor Terry’s will use her address, coinciding with the UA annual conference, to set out the role university communities played on the front-line of fire-fighting this summer and set out the role of researchers and respect for scientific method in dealing with disasters.

“In countless news stories during the bushfires, drought, hailstorms, floods, dangerous smoke and now the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, our experts have shared their expertise with us all. … University fire experts teaching us about the changing scale and behaviour of fires.  Social scientists sharing expertise to support our communities in grief and recovery.  Conservation scientists sharing knowledge to race to save endangered species.”

This is typical Terry, astute to what works in politics. Instead of demands for more-money by-right, her message is in-line with the Dan Tehan playbook. The education minister wants universities to present him with a case for research that he can sell in cabinet and party-room. Professor Terry delivers.