Australia is not "punching above our weight" in scientific achievement despite misguided beliefs that the nation is doing well, the chief scientist has warned.
Professor Ian Chubb says Australia has to end its "she'll be right" attitude to the future and get serious about a science strategy that will support the economy and national living standards into the future.
If Australia does not develop long-term strategies for science and maths now, it will be left behind by developed and developing nations worldwide that have already grasped the importance of science, he said.
"We can't just continue to tinker at the margins. That's what we have done and it is clear that it isn't good enough," Professor Chubb said, delivering the 2014 Jack Beale Lecture on the Global Environment at the University of New South Wales on Wednesday night.
In a speech titled No Free Rides to the Future: Shoring up the Science to Sustain Us, Professor Chubb said Australia is not "punching above our weight" in research, innovation, patenting or science and maths education.
"Bluntly, we are middle-of-the-road," he said.
Professor Chubb said Australia had poor patenting rates, was below average in citation rates in research papers and among the worst in the OECD for linkages between research and business.
Nations around the world are resetting their economies to embrace new technologies, skills and alliances, he said, with science, technology, engineering and mathematics capabilities at the core of almost every agenda.
However, Australia is the only OECD country that has neither a national science and technology strategy or an innovation strategy.
The comments come against a background of Australia not having a dedicated federal minister for science for the first time since 1931 and the nation's premier science body, the CSIRO, suffering a $110 million funding cut in the last federal budget.
Up to 500 jobs are expected to go at the science organisation.
Professor Chubb questioned the attitude of Australia's leaders to the future.
"We have certainly heard the word tied to the recent budget - so we know that a future without debt is a good thing. I can accept that," he said.
"But I also know that I want more.
"I want an Australia that is more than just what is left after the economic trimmings work their way through the community's digestive system."
Professor Chubb said Australia needed a science strategy focused on making the economy competitive, fostering education, building research and engaging in strategic international partnerships.
Share
