Subjects: science and technology
E&OE................................
Thank you very much for those kind words of introduction.
To my ministerial colleague Nick Minchin, my other ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, to the award recipients, to their families and friends. And how delightful it is to have the mothers of our two young scientific recipients with us tonight and I welcome them very especially and honour the journey that they have made to be present on this very important occasion.
Before awarding the inaugural science prize to Dr Liz Dennis and Dr Jim Peacock I would like to say a few words about the Government's view of the role and importance of science and technology within the Australian community.
As everyone knows over the past two weeks or more our entire nation has been preoccupied with the pursuit of excellence in the sporting arena. We've done it, in the main, in an unashamed, unabashed, patriotic fashion. We've done it with a sense of verve and enjoyment and we've admired the skill and the dedication and the discipline and the commitment of the young men and women who've brought such honour to our country in their sporting endeavour and have participated in such a hugely successful gathering of tens of thousands of people from all around the world.
And I don't think it is being in any way trite, I don't think it is in any way exaggerating a proper comparison that ought to be made for me to say that it ought to be the goal of all of us and not least the government to see the same level of commitment and striving for excellence and the same place of honour within our society accorded to the men and women of Australia who achieve excellence in areas of science and technology.
Our Chairman Dr Anderson spoke very properly of the importance of science and technology within our society. And I know and I guess everybody in this room knows that towards the end of this year the government will be receiving the final tranche, if I can put it that way, of reports and examinations involving the work of Dr Robin Batterham the Chief Scientist and also the reports coming out of the innovation summit. And the government will have before it a number of very important decisions to make. I'm not in a position to announce tonight what those decisions might be. I do however want to assure you that we do place a very high premium on the importance of science and technology within our society.
I came to the job as prime minister quite untrained in scientific matters. My academic discipline many years ago was very different. I have to say to you that I have drawn a great deal of understanding I hope in a lay sense of scientific and technological issues from the work that I have greatly enjoyed chairing the Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Council. It's a gathering of the most talented, the brightest and the best within our community. And one of the things I should say to Dr Peacock and Dr Dennis that follows your winning the Prime Minister's inaugural science award is that you will join my science council for a period of twelve months.
And it is appropriate that one of the young scientists honoured tonight, Dr Schmidt should have been the recipient of an award dedicated to the memory of Malcolm Macintosh who was a wonderful contributor to that science council and had an unerring capacity to illuminate to the most ignorant laymen in scientific matters the great value to the humanity of the world of science.
And the inaugural award goes to two people tonight who've done pioneering scientific work and research in an area the application of which will be of enormous long term benefit to people not only on developed countries such as Australia but also to developing societies around the world.
And when I heard Dr Dennis speak so strongly and warmly and keenly of her idealistic commitment to the role that science can play in our lives I thought that the contribution that she is being honoured for tonight fits very neatly into that very laudable goal.
There are many issues that are being debated at the present time regarding the role of science and technology and the relative contributions of the public and private sectors to those endeavours within our community.
All of us are caught up in one way or another with the enormous changes that technology spearheaded by science in so many areas have delivered in our society over the last few decades. We have made extraordinary advances as a society in relation to medical science. The changes and improvements that have occurred in that area over the last generation have been quite astonishing.
And as many of you know in the budget before last, as an earnest of our very strong commitment to the role of medical science within Australia and as a recognition of the world quality of so many of our medical scientists in the great institutes that our country has produced, the Government committed itself to a doubling of funding for health and medical research in Australia over the years immediately ahead of us.
And we will in the considerations that we bring to the various reports that will come to us later in the year conscientiously address the needs and the responsibilities of the government and the sort of contributions that we ought to be making in those respective areas. Not of course that I would be doing my job and if I didn't of course point out to you tonight the very strong commitments that we have made not only in the area of health and medical research but in the financial provision for the CSIRO and the financial provision we have made in other areas relating to science and innovation and technology.
But the impact of science and technology on not only our world and the way in which we live our lives but the structure of the world economy over the last thirty years has been immense. And I was struck by an observation I read in The Economist magazine a few weeks ago in the context of something else which is topical at the present time and that is the world price of crude oil where it was trying to draw some comparison between the economic impact of current rises in the world price of crude oil as compared with the rises that occurred in the early 1970's when the OPEC countries almost quadrupled the price they charged for producing crude oil. And the observation was made by the magazine that the cost in dollar terms adjusting for constant dollars of course of producing the world's GDP currently the cost accounted for by the cost of fuel was only half of what it was back in the early 1970s. And what of course that demonstrated was the way in which science and technology had not only transformed human behaviour and human endeavour but the enormous change that it had brought about in relation to the structure of our economies.
There's no doubt in my mind as there's no doubt in the minds of many who are much closer to economic activity in the United States that the importance and the emphasis placed on investment in technology in that country has played a very major role in strengthening the economy and producing the remarkable run of quarters of economic growth that the most powerful economy in the world has seen. I think it is equally important that we keep the debate in this country in proper perspective. When we look at the technological achievements of Australia we look at the way in which we have literally devoured the instruments of information technology and how in every sense of the word we are technologically a very sophisticated country. To quote yet again a very contemporary example it is quite inconceivable that the Olympic Games could have been carried off with such style and success if this country had not been a technologically sophisticated one and if our application of and use of information technology should have been up there amongst the best in the world.
Ladies and gentlemen this is an important occasion. It's an occasion to recognise both in a symbolic way and may I say also in a very practical way the achievements of the brightest and the best within our scientific community. I was delighted to learn of the contributions of Dr Morgan and Dr Schmidt in their respective fields. I share the enthusiasm and the pleasure expressed by Senator Minchin that both of them represent a reversal of that frequently referred to 'brain drain'and we welcome both of them as Australian citizens.
But what I do tonight is to honour two very remarkable scientist whose work has been outlined to you. I'm delighted that I have the privilege of presenting the awards and honouring them on your behalf in the presence of so many members of their respective families. All of us who pour our lives into one or other endeavour need the support and the sustenance of our families and others around us. Life gets very lonely and difficult in any area involving a concentrated human commitment without the understanding and support of your families. And I am delighted that so many of them are with you tonight.
To you Dr Dennis and to your Dr Peacock what you are receiving tonight is the nation's most prestigious award for scientific endeavour. It represents a proper tribute to both of you for the excellent and dedicated work that you have done - patiently, laboriously but always with great dedication and intelligence you've both applied yourselves to your professions over a long period of time. You have been honoured by your peers, you have their respect. You have the gratitude of the Government and I, in inviting you to come to the stage to accept your awards, I wish both of you well and I thank you very warmly for the contribution that you are making to Australia and the contribution that you make to humanity through your marvellous scientific endeavour.
Thank you.
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