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SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
AUSTRALIA PRIZE
CANBERRA 14 MAY 1990
Prize winners,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Not since the new Parliament House was opened two years ago
have we hosted such a significant occasion in this building.
Your presence here tonight for the inaugural award of the
Australia Prize is itself a statement about our nation's
emerging priorities, a recognition of the standing science
now rightly has in our society.
Australia hos never lacked talented and committed
scientists. In fact our brief history boasts a record of
real achievement in many fields. I doubt, however, I would
get much argument from tonight's audience with the
proposition that, until recently, science has had to
struggle for fair recognition for its role and its
importance. Perhaps you can draw some comfort from the fact
that the recent elections saw, for the first time, science
discussed as an issue in its own right. At the time, I
argued that for Australia's future it was essential that we
should no longer be content to be just the lucky country;
that we must also become the clever country. That sentiment
struck a very receptive chord in the community. The reason
it did was not because it was some catchy slogan that
offered hope in difficult times. Rather it reflected a
genuine belief among Australians that if we are to maintain
our place in the first rank of the developed nations we must
embrace, and embrace enthusiastically, a culture in which
science and technology are vital elements. We are, after
all, in the region of. the world which is growing fastest and
which counts among its member countries some of those at the
forefront of scientific effort.
For government the encouragement of science has to be an end
in itself. In the words of the American science writer
Timothy Ferris: " Science is young. Whether it will survive
long enough to become old depends upon our sanity and
courage and vigour So the challenge now, in an age
when physics pushes into fields once the domain solely of
philosophers and theologians, is to ensure that it does
grow old'.
Scientists have proved in this country that given adequate
resources they will produce work of great worth. The
relevance science now has to the wider community can perhaps
be best demonstrated at the anecdotal level. Had I, a
decade ago, stood here and told you that a book on
theoretical physics Stephen Hawking's " A Brief History of
Time" would be a best-seller I would have been regarded as
slightly eccentric. Had I gone on to claim that books on
chaos theory were also doing a brisk trade that judgement
would have been confirmed. What this phenomenon tells us is
that science is exciting interest in the broader community.
Scientists are also reaching out, educating we laymen and
women that science for its own sake is of fundamental
relevance to us, to our understanding of the world and to
the shape our future might take.
Another factor in the increased interest in and respect for
science can be directly traced to the rapid rise of the
environment as an issue. When people have questions about
environmental issues they do not turn to business or to
political leaders for answers they turn to scientists.
So, too, do governments. The decision my Government made
last year not to proceed with the Wesley Vale pulp mill, in
the end, rested on the work of the CSIRO. After all the
arguments about jobs, development, balance of export
earnings and import replacements had been heard it was the
high-quality, cogent and accessible work of the CSIRO that
convinced the Cabinet that it would not be responsible to
proceed with the project.
Science now has a secure place at the top of my Government's
priorities. One of the critical decisions we have taken to
ensure this was to establish the Prime Minister's Science
Council and the Office of the Chief Scientist in my own
Department. Now, when science speaks in this country I hear
directly what it has to say. [ Ralph Slatyer makes sure of
this!] Foremost amongst our concerns as a Government has been
improving ways of bringing the power of science and
technology to bear on achieving higher rates of economic
growth, on improving the health of the nation, on national
defence, and on solving the pressing problems of the
environment. In addition, we must ensure Australia has a highly skilled
work-force able to support new technologies and new
industrial challenges amenable to science and technology.
To this end, we have provided additional equipment and
research funds for higher education institutions and
government research organisations. We have also provided
extra post-graduate awards to increase the number of highly
qualified young people entering the Australian workforce
young people who will maintain the proud tradition of
Australian scientific research.
Australia has also resolved to work to reduce its reliance
on imported technology and borrowed research. We must
become a leader in the production and export of ideas. My
Government has already dramatically boosted our science and
technology potential with a $ 1,000 million package of
initiatives last year. But to stay abreast and move ahead
of the world, we need to pool the talents of our university,
Commonwealth, State and private sector researchers and link
them more effectively to the rest of the economy. As a step
towards this goal the Government recently announced that it
has decided to establish a network of 50 world class
Cooperative Research Centres. My Minister for Science and
Technology, Simon Crean, will be responsible for the
introduction of these new research centres, which will
create additional jobs for about 1,000 talented Australian
scientists. Each research centre, when fully established over the next
five years, will be staffed with a team of highly skilled
scientists, using the latest high tech equipment, exchanging
information around the world making, we are confident,
scientific breakthroughs in medicine, technology, pollution
control, communications. And so, instead of young
Australian scientists having to go to Europe, America and
Japan to find the leading edge of scientific research, we'll
have their scientists coming to us.
While the measures I have just described are focussed on
strengthening science and technology in Australia, there is
also a pressing need to continue to encourage the
community's awareness of the importance of science and
technology. A central task here is to ensure that our young
people fully appreciate the opportunities that exist for
challenging and rewarding careers in science and technology.
They must also be well prepared to live in an increasingly
technological society, not just as passive observers, but as
active participants.
I am particularly pleased that we have in the audience
tonight a number of young people, representatives of the
young Australians who have already distinguished themselves
in their studies in science and technology.
The attitudes and ambitions of these young people, and
others like them will determine the type of society we have
in this country in the years ahead.
To meet this need for greater public awareness of science
and technology, my Government included a Science and
Technology Awareness Program amongst the measures it
introduced last year. The program's goal is to increase
awareness of the central role of science and technology in
achieving economic growth and improved national well-being.
At the pinnacle of this program is the Australia Prize.
Other measures are designed to inform the general community
of the role of science and technology in national life.
Academic achievement by young Australians is being
encouraged through support for participation in the
Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry Olympiads. This year
will also see the introduction of the Australian Students'
Prize. Five hundred of these will be awarded each year to
our best young achievers at the end of Year 12. They will
encourage the ever-increasing number of students finishing
high school to strive for excellence.
Although the Government can do much to increase public
awareness of science and technology, it cannot hope to make
the necessary impact on opinions and attitudes unless it is
supported by other sections of the community. Importantly,
industry is playing its part. The BHP Science Awards for
teachers of science and technology, the CFRA Science Summer
Schools and the Shell Program for Young Achievers all raise
interest and reward enthusiasm and achievement.
Let me turn now to the matter which brings us here this
evening: the Australia Prize.
This is an annual award to recognise an outstanding
achievement in a selected area of science promoting human
welfare. In inaugurating this award, the Government wishes to
recognise and reward scientific achievement, wherever it
occurs. We wish also to enhance and promote Australia's
image as a nation with a proud record of scientific
achievement and appreciation of the value of such
achievement in ourselves and in others.
Despite being a country with a small population, and the
disadvantage of being remote from the major centres of
learning and culture, Australia has an excellent record of
research and of contribution to the world of learning.
I shall not dwell for long on the achievements that led the
Australia Prize Committee to select the distinguished
winners of this inaugural Australia Prize. We have all seen
the excellent video which portrays so graphically the nature
and importance of the work for which they are now being
recognised. The field of research selected by the Committee this year
the biological sciences related to agriculture and the
environment is, of course, one of vital interest to
Australia: one that bridges our lucky country foundations
and our clever country aspirations. During the whole of the
period-since European settlement, our economy has owed much
to agriculture. Although we have prospered from the
abundance of our agricultural production, there has been a
high cost in terms of land degradation and an increasing
dependence on chemical fertilisers, pesticides and
herbicides. As we have just seen, the advances we are
honouring this evening will reduce that dependence on
chemicals. Not only is work in this field of vital
importance to Australia, it is also an area of research in
which Australia has displayed particular strength. For this
reason, it is appropriate, and also particularly gratifying,
that one of the winners of this inaugural Australia Prize
should be an Australian.
Let me record my Government's gratitude for the efforts of
the Australia Prize Committee. This panel of distinguished
Australians has brought wide knowledge and experience to
bear on a difficult and demanding task. They have chosen
wisely and well; I commend them for their efforts; and I
congratulate the distinguished prize-winners on winning the
inaugural Australia Prize.