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The amendments to the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill strike a better balance between protecting Australia’s national security and ensuring domestic and international scientific collaboration can continue to serve our national interest, says President of the Australian Academy of Science Professor Chennupati Jagadish.

Richard, Anthony, my sincere congratulations on the launch of your campaign. I wish you every success.

I would also like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal clan of the Eora Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are gathering today.

Read on for a glimpse of who we are.

While there is a slight increase in Government investment in R&D from 2022-23 to 2023-24, there is much still to be done if we are to see a full turnaround in the decades-long downward trend in R&D investment. Australia’s investment remains well below the OECD average.

Today we celebrate our 70th anniversary since the foundation of the Australian Academy of Science.

The President of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Chennupati Jagadish, said the Australian Government cannot build a stronger, more resilient nation with a stagnant research and development system that relies on decades-old settings.

The Academy’s 2023 Frew Fellow, Professor Jelena Vuckovic, toured and lectured in Australia recently as a recipient of the Academy’s Geoffrey Frew Fellowship. The Fellowship brings distinguished overseas scientists to Australia to participate in Australian spectroscopy conferences and to visit scientific centres, and was initiated in 1970 through a personal donation from Mr G S V Frew.

Governments and society in 2023 turned to science for evidence to inform vital decisions we faced. Yet we also saw overall investment in R&D drop to an all-time low. 2023 is the year that science became more valued, but more vulnerable.