Rather than worry about the budget, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences has gone straight to its election wish-list. This maybe because its ambitions are mainly un-costed or perhaps it expects Labor to win and is getting in early for a mini-budget.

“In a statement … ahead of the forthcoming Federal election,” the academy wants:

* total (not just medical science) research spending to rise from 1.88 per cent of GDP in 2015-16 to match the OECD 2.36 per cent average, with a target of 3 per cent

* “a culture of collaboration and commercialisation, which values mobility and interaction between sectors, with targeted support where the commercialisation pipeline most often fails. “

* embedding research in the health system through electronic access to the health record system and “streamlining regulation and governance”

* “reverse the current trend of rising health inequalities”

* diversity and inclusion in the workforce equipping it “to meet the interdisciplinary demands of the future”