CHECK AQATN!; T nrELIVERY RMBARrCOED UNTIL, nELIVERX
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OPENING THE COOPERATIVE RESEARCH
CENTRE FOR PLANT SCIENCE
CANBERRA 26 SEPTEMBER 1991
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Governments must grapple with and overcome a host of
urgent problems on a day to day basis. But, while we're
doing that, we have to keep the broader strategy in view, to
stick to the game plan, and to take those decisions which
will benefit: Australia in the longer term.
So it is particularly satisfying to have an opportunity to
step aside from the cut and thrust of the day to day, to
participate in the fruition of a long term policy launch.
Today, we celebrate a further step in the realisation of a
major commitment by my Government to Australia's future.
Our commitment to the Cooperative Research Centres Program
forms an important part of the wider, longer term vision of
the kind of Australia we are seeking to build; an Australia
which will increasingly be able to pay its way in the world
with the currency of its creative skills and technology, to
further expand the provision of secondary and tertiary goods
and services to our established position as a world class
supplier of -primary products.
In March this year I outlined the elements of the
Government's strategy for achieving these goals in my
statement to Parliament, ' Building a Competitive Australia'.
That statement was about what we must do together, in
meeting the economic challenges facing this country; about
putting in place the right policy framework to build an
internationally competitive economy; and about utilising our
resources and mobilising our talents to build our future.
The Cooperative Research Centres Program is a key element of
this framework. It will see the establishment of up to
fifty Centres, of which the first fifteen were announced in
my Parliamentary Statement.
This occasion marks the culmination of that selection
process for one of those fifteen, the cooperative Research
Centre for Plant Science.
The first fifteen Centres were chosen because of the
demonstrated excellence of their proposed programs of
cooperative research, the quality of the researchers they
gathered together, their sound education programs and the
active involvement of industry groups and other research
users. It is through initiatives such as the CRC Program that
Australian ingenuity is given expression and direction in
our national research and development effort, with direct
benefits to the Australian economy, as well as to our
overall strategic goals as a nation.
The Commonwealth Government is providing substantial funding
support for the Program and will be contributing $ 100
million annually in 1990 dollars when the Program is fully
underway. These funds will be very significant in
triggering broader support.
The first fifteen Centres for instance, are expected to
mobilise additional resources from State Governments and
instrumentalities, CSIRO and related organisations,
universities and the private sector, so that for every
dollar the Commonwealth provides, almost $ 2.50 in cash and
kind will be contributed by these sources. This adds up to
an impressive figure, demonstrating the commitment of all
parties to the Program.
The CRC Program, however, is not just about increasing
available research dollars. It is also about better
utilising our existing research resources, building on
existing strengths, consolidating research infrastructure
and ensuring that research is directed at meeting the needs
of research users.
As we all know, Australia has produced many world class
researchers indeed several are here with us today and
what makes the Cooperative Research Centres Program so
exciting is the way it will provide these researchers with
new opportunities to work together.
They will be backed by a concentration of equipment and
associated facilities which are essential to building and
maintaining a leading edge in research.
It will also allow researchers to link more effectively with
end users in industry and Government. This is essential if
the multitude of good ideas that will arise in such
productive environments are to result in tangible benefits
to all Australians.
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The Centres have also established integrated and innovative
education components in their programs. These components
will play a major role in enhancing the quality and skill
levels of Australian science and engineering students.
These studeats, our next generation of researchers, will be
able to train with some of the best research scientists and
engineers in Australia. Their contact with researchers from
outside the Universities will be particularly valuable,
exposing them to the kinds of R& D challenges faced by
leading edge companies and research organisations.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Science is a good
example of ithe CRC: concept in practice. It is a partnership
between the Australian National University, the CSIRO
Division of Plant Industry arnd Biocem [ prnnnunced BiosemJ
Pacific. It will be a Centre of excellence in its field arid
add to the international reputation its constituent partners
have already gained.
Most of you will be well aware of the group's significant
contributions in such areas as the CSIRO's involvement in
the breakthrough ' gene shears' technology, and the ANU
group's discovery of a technique to screen plants for their
water use efficiency, which could increase wheat production
in years of low rainfall.
This Centre will be playing a major role in research and
training relating to modern plant biology and ecologically
sustainable agriculture. It will support and stimulate
Australia's rural industries with better plants, and new
plant based products.
Because of the importance of rural industries to Australia's
economy it can be expected that any major research
breakthrough, any technical edge, will have a direct and
significant impact on our overall trade and economy.
The Centre's program target three major areas research,
education, and liaison with industry.
The research component will focus on learning how to control
plant growth, improving plant quality and assisting plants
to resist pests and diseases.
The education component appears particularly innovative. It
aims not only to provide high level research training, but
also to foster plant science at primary and secondary school
levels to ensure' more students are attracted into plant
science, agriculture and environmental science.
In addition -to its association with Biocem Pacific, the
Centre will Jae encouraging further direct partnerships with
other industrial enterprises.
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The Centre will initially be funded for seven years. Its
operating costs over that period will total to over $ 37
million, of which the Commonwealth will be providing more
than $ 15 million.
It remains to me to wish the Centre's Co-directors,
Dr Jim Peacock of the CSIRO and Professor Brian Gunning of
the ANU, together with Dr Eric Huttner of Biocem Pacific,
and all those who will be working with them under the
auspices of this Cooperative Research Centre, the very best
for their future endeavours.
It is now with great pleasure that I declare open the
Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Science.