The Australian Academy of Science has announced its mainly-money federal election wish-list. “Australia has a choice: determine our future and develop the science plan to drive it or be swept along trailing the decisions of other nations,” president John Shine says. Requests include;
* increased R&D spending to 3 per cent of GDP over a decade. “With longer and more ambitious research grants and greater security for early and mid-career researchers. Australia cannot afford to let careers for researchers drift”
* a $1.85bn research infrastructure fund
* boosted access to the Academy’s science and maths school programmes
* a science-government charter, “built on trust, respect, and mutual obligation.”