Subjects: science; technology and innova
E&OE..................
Well thank you very much Robert. To the director of Questacon, to my ministerial colleague Peter McGauran, the Chief Scientist Robin Batterham, other parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
This is in a way the first event in a week that is going to be very important for science, technology and innovation in Australia. Next Monday I'll be delivering for the government a major statement which will contain a series of very important announcements which will commit additional resources and reassert on behalf of this government and I know on behalf of all of the Australian people the very critical importance we place on the intellectual capital of this country, its creative people, its genius for clever inventions, and most importantly a commitment to ensuring that the fruits and the benefits of inventions and new ideas are effectively harnessed to the overall and future benefit of the Australian people.
I thought our players, in a very entertaining and very Australian fashion reminded us of the incredible array of inventions right across the gamut of human need and human achievement for which Australians over the years have been responsible. I could almost hope that that little performance could be videoed up or bottled up and sent overseas to drive home to people around the world just how effectively when it comes to inventions that this country has been able to punch above its weight for so many years over such a wide range of activities.
And it is important when you spend a bit of time as we are as a people at present reflecting on what the country has achieved over the last one hundred years, it is important to try and gain a better knowledge of just how many areas of endeavour and achievement and how very effective on the world stage our scientists have been. And as the director reminded us, save and except for Patrick White, the Nobel Prize winners in Australia have been in the area of science and technology. And in so many of those areas we have won world renown.
And we are getting a better balance. I know on occasions people lament the fact that we spend, they don't perhaps lament the fact that we spend too much time following sport, I would certainly never do that. But they perhaps lament the fact that we don't spend enough time focusing on other areas of Australian achievement. I think that is changing. I think there is a growing pride, certainly amongst our young as well as older aged cohorts, I think there is a growing sense of pride in how much we have been able to achieve in areas of science.
It's very interesting, last year one of the television channels ran a poll amongst its viewers as to an outstanding Australian contributor of the last one hundred years and that was won by the late Dr Victor Chang who as you all know played such a major role in medical science, particularly in relation to heart transplants, over the years that preceded his very tragic death in 1991. And it was something of bellwether of perhaps a changing attitude in the Australian community where there is a greater recognition of scientific achievement.
From a personal point of view I don't mind saying that as somebody whose discipline was the law and whose acquaintance with science was less extensive because of that discipline than many others in this audience, one of the most thrilling experiences I've had as Prime Minister is the opportunity it's given me to chair the Prime Minister's Science, Innovation and Technology Council. And that brings to me and to my senior colleagues the scientific cream of Australia and the people who have the responsibility not only of carrying the burden of research but also the people who are involved in converting that to commercial advantage and to longer term benefit. And the things I've leant in chairing that council and the insights I've been given, the introduction in many cases that I've enjoyed to the finest minds in scientific Australia has been something that I remember very very vividly.
We haven't always been as good as a nation in hanging onto our inventions. So often we invent something and then it goes off overseas and some of the inventions to which reference was made during the presentation a few moments ago are certainly very vividly in our minds when we think of that. And one of the responsibilities of government, one of the responsibilities of the business community and one of the responsibilities of the scientific community is to try and ensure that there are fewer examples of the bright idea occurring in Australia but then disappearing overseas and the commercial benefit being enjoyed by other countries and other people.
We are of course, citizens of the world, but we're also first and foremost an Australian community. And we are entitled to feel not only a sense of pride but also a certain degree of ownership in the brilliance and the ideas of our scientists and those who contribute so much in creative thought.
Questacon of course has been aimed very much at taking science and technology to the community, and the emphasis that it has placed in its 13 years of existence on attracting younger people and children and introducing younger Australians of all ages to the relationship between science and creativity and their daily lives has been one of the reasons why it has been such a very very successful concept. And we remain indebted of course to the generosity of the government and the people of Japan for the contribution that was made as a Bicentennial gift towards the establishment of this centre.
So I'm delighted to be with you, I'm delighted again on behalf of the Government to salute and thank the scientists, the men and women of this country who've contributed so much in the realm of ideas and creativity. And I hope that the climate in which they will operate in the years ahead will be more encouraging, there's a growing appreciation of the important role they play in our community. And this wonderful exhibition will take to the Australian people, particularly to young Australians, an interpretation of the relevance of inventions and creative ideas to our daily lives. And I therefore have great pleasure in declaring open the exhibition "Our Clever Country", I salute those who've created a clever Australia and may they be followed in the years ahead by many more talented men and women of Australia.
Thank you.
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