The former chief scientist welcomes the government’s “long overdue revision of national science and research priorities”

“We should bear in mind those identified in 2015 had little impact, apart from a tick-a-box on some forms. This was not helped by the rapid rotation of science ministers,” Professor Chubb says – and he should know. As chief scientist he led the development process.

Now policy secretary for the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Chubb nominates three areas, “as the basis of our national research effort,”

* Australia’s environment and biodiversity

* “matters that are global … where we have the capacity and talent to contribute to international efforts.” He nominates health, energy and global warming.

And he speaks-up for discovery science, “ there is a critical need to build intellectual capital through the pursuit of the most basic understanding of the very nature of things.” Implicitly acknowledging the applied research temper of the times, he suggests a review of the research framework, “with clear and unambiguous support for research leading to knowledge and separately for the use (translation) of the knowledge.”

But he also counsels caution, “Australia remains a middle power in global science. We cannot do everything and should not spread thinly our already inadequate support for research,”

Decades advising government on science policy will do that to a bloke’s enthusiasm.