Labor pitches plan to put science at the top of its innovation agenda

Australia's opposition deputy leader and Shadow Minister for Science Richard Marles has underscored the need for Australia to put science high on the agenda to compete against international counterparts, such as Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, and Germany, and vowed it would an issue that "Labor will pursue through to the next election".

"Australia must have the courage to embrace science and complexity," he said in his address at the National Press Club (NPC) on Monday.

Marles pointed out that there were a few key steps that needed to be taken. The first was turning science into jobs and the second was getting more students into STEM subjects at school.

"We need to raise the bar for our students -- and raise the rate of STEM graduates," he said.
 
"I think it's time we re-started the conversation about how much we are really valuing maths and science in our high school curricula. We know these skills are a compulsory part of the future economy. But learning these subjects is not. 
 
"English is compulsory through to year 12 but we let our kids quit maths and science. Let me be clear: Shakespeare matters. But Australia's reality is that the future economy will need more engineers and coders than poets and playwrights."

He added that Australia also needed to improve its capacity to commercialise public research.

"Australia must start turning science into jobs, and we must start by recognising science as an economic pillar, not just a high school project," he said.
 
"Indeed the single biggest micro-economic reform challenge facing our country today is to properly commercialise science: to do so thoughtfully and with a clear-eyed understanding that science means jobs and not just for scientists.
 
"The starting point in this is to diagnose the problem and to make fixing it a political priority. To rebuild advanced manufacturing in this country, government must lead a national mission to play to our national strengths and to grow the industries of the future with new technology."

But how to grow Australia's science sector, according to Marles, needed to be considered.

"There is a process that we need to undergo. That's not about picking winners and saying company X is going to do project Y, but it is about understanding; who are we as a country, and what are our national strengths and what are the opportunities that come from that," he said, pointing to mining and agriculture as two possible opportunity areas.

Marles acknowledged that part of the responsibility would also fall on government to have "public policy to support the skills, research, and innovation that will build manufacturing capability".

"Our policy goal must be to find ways of ensuring that this best practice becomes the everyday practice in Australia. And that is exactly what Labor will do," he said.

These remarks echoed the address that recently appointed chief scientist Dr Cathy Foley gave at the NPC last week where she outlined her commitment to address four main issues in her new role.

These included changing the way children are educated by enhancing the science literacy of teachers; improving open access to research; and recognising that artificial intelligence and quantum computing are two areas that the country would "need to on top of".

Achieving diversity within science, engineering, and technology was also another that Dr Foley spoke to.

"Simply put, diversity of ideas and experience equals better results," she said. 

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