An Indigenous health champion and a pioneering astrophysicist are among 22 Australians recognised for their outstanding contributions to science by being elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Tom Calma AO, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, has been elected for championing the improvement of Indigenous peoples’ health, education and justice for over 45 years. His work continues to have an enduring impact on public discourse in Australia and beyond.

Professor Calma is the first Fellow elected to the Academy who identifies as an Aboriginal person. He is a descendant of the Kungarakan and Iwaidja tribal groups, whose traditional lands are south-west of Darwin and on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory.

Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths has been recognised for advancing our understanding of how our own galaxy and its neighbours evolved, including her creation of a model proving the existence of a new spiral arm of the Milky Way.

She has helped design multiple radio telescope facilities, included CSIRO’s ASKAP and the planned globe-spanning SKA, and her leadership has been instrumental to high-resolution observational surveys of the sky.

Professor McClure-Griffiths’ detailed atlases of atomic hydrogen gas in our galaxy are used by astronomers and astrophysicists around the world.

They are joined by 20 other outstanding researchers from across the breadth of Australian science, including experts on fragile river ecosystems, clean energy technologies and the genomes of Australian native animals.

Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC, who today takes the reins as President of the Australian Academy of Science, congratulated the new Fellows for their contributions to science.

“Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science are among the nation’s most distinguished scientists, elected by their peers for ground-breaking research and contributions that have had clear impact,” Professor Jagadish said.

“The Academy’s actions to improve gender diversity among our Fellowship are succeeding. This year’s Fellows include 50% women and 50% men, the first time in the Academy’s history that gender parity has been achieved in the annual election of new Fellows.

“This has been achieved by adopting a range of measures to improve our nomination process and increase opportunities to recognise all scientists. Our work to improve diversity among our Fellowship continues.

“We reflect a diverse and inclusive science community that recognises the widest range of talents, backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, and we are united by our contribution and commitment to scientific excellence,” Professor Jagadish said.

The Academy’s new Fellows for 2022 are:

ACT

• Thomas Calma – Chancellor, University of Canberra
• Naomi McClure-Griffiths – Astronomer, Australian National University
• Ute Roessner – Plant scientist, Australian National University

NSW

• Katherine Belov – Biologist, University of Sydney
• Marcela Bilek – Physicist, University of Sydney
• John Cannon – Pure mathematician, University of Sydney
• Catherine Greenhill – Pure mathematician, UNSW Sydney
• Michelle Haber – Childhood cancer scientist, UNSW Sydney
• Emma Johnston – Marine ecologist, UNSW Sydney
• Albert Zomaya – Computer scientist, University of Sydney

QLD

• Stuart Bunn – Freshwater ecologist, Griffith University
• Janice Lough – Climate scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science
• Sarah Medland – Statistical geneticist, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
• Huijun Zhao – Chemist, Griffith University

VIC

• Matthew Bailes – Astrophysicist, Swinburne University of Technology
• Kate Smith-Miles – Applied mathematician, University of Melbourne

SA

• Peter Høj – Vice-Chancellor, University of Adelaide
• Timothy Hughes – Haematologist, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute
• Peter Langridge – Agricultural researcher, University of Adelaide
• Craig Simmons – Groundwater scientist, Flinders University

TAS

•  Elizabeth Fulton – Ecosystem modeller, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere

WA

• Jonathan Carapetis – Paediatric physician, Telethon Kids Institute

Find out more about our 2022 Fellows.

Corresponding Members

Also admitted to the Academy are two Corresponding Members. The new Corresponding Members for 2022 are:

• Professor Anne Dell – Biochemist, Imperial College London
• Professor Lei Jiang – Chemist and material scientist, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Membership is a special category within the Fellowship, comprising eminent international scientists with strong ties to Australia who have made outstanding contributions to science. There are currently 34 Corresponding Members of the Academy.

More information

Following the 2022 election of our new Fellows, the Fellowship now stands at 590 Fellows.

The 2022 new Fellows will present their work and achievements at Science at the Shine Dome on 23 November. This is the Academy’s annual flagship event where Australia’s most influential scientists gather to celebrate science and to honour outstanding achievements in science.

The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London, with the distinguished physicist Sir Mark Oliphant as founding President.

Find out more about criteria for ordinary and special election to the Academy and how to nominate a scientist for fellowship.

Statement by Australian Academy of Science Chief Executive, Anna-Maria Arabia

In March last year, over a hundred eminent scientists, including several Nobel Laureates, signed a petition seeking the immediate release of Kathleen Folbigg. Many of those scientists are Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science.

Last year’s petition was based on new medical and scientific evidence that came to light after the 2019 Inquiry. In particular, the new evidence dealt with the findings that Ms Folbigg’s female children had a pathogenic genetic variant capable of causing cardiac arrest and death. 

Given the complicated nature of this genetic evidence, the Australian Academy of Science last year offered to assist the Attorney General by making available scientific experts to advise on the new evidence. 

Today’s announcement by the Attorney General shows that he would prefer not to receive direct briefings and instead would rather have the evidence examined via another Inquiry.  

While many Fellows of the Academy think there is overwhelming evidence to justify Ms Folbigg’s immediate release, we respect the Attorney General’s decision and the legal process he has decided on, which is to have a second Inquiry.  

The Academy welcomes the Attorney General’s invitation to attend the new Inquiry. 

The Academy intends to assist the Honourable Chief Justice Bathurst by making available suitable experts to advise on the medical, genetic, diary and probabilistic evidence. Given the complicated nature of the evidence, this will likely involve recruiting experts from around the world. 

While the new genetic evidence in this case has already been peer reviewed by other scientists, the Academy appreciates that the legal community has its own methods for testing evidence.  

The Academy will seek to facilitate that process as best it can and looks forward to receiving the draft terms of reference for the Inquiry from the Attorney General so it can assist in defining the scope of the Inquiry. 

Statement by Australian Academy of Science Fellow Professor Carola Vinuesa 

It is disappointing, given the strength of the medical and scientific findings, that Ms Folbigg has not been granted a pardon. The evidence goes well beyond raising a reasonable doubt and instead provides the likely explanation for the natural deaths of Ms Folbigg’s children.  

In 2019 we discovered the rare gene mutation in both Folbigg girls and in 2020 an international team of 27 scientists led by Danish Professor Michael Toft Overgaard demonstrated through biochemical testing that this mutation is pathogenic.  

The mutation disrupts the normal heart rhythm and can cause sudden cardiac death. The first outward sign of the disease can be a child dying while they sleep. The biochemical testing showed that the effects of the variant found in the Folbigg family are as severe as those of other mutations that have led to sudden cardiac death in young children.  

As there was never any evidence of child abuse, the most likely explanation for the deaths of Sarah and Laura Folbigg is that they died from a sudden cardiac arrest caused by the genetic variant they carried. 

The variant or mutation changes a protein called calmodulin that controls the way calcium enters and leaves heart cells. When mutations like this one occur, they can cause cardiac arrythmias that can lead to sudden death without warning.   

Sudden death in these cases can be triggered by infection or fever and there was evidence of infection in both Folbigg daughters.  

Mutations in the calmodulin genes have killed children in similar circumstances in the past. These deaths have been recorded in an international registry curated by the world leading expert in the genetics of cardiac arrythmias Professor Peter Schwartz. Mutations in calmodulin affecting heart rhythm are amongst the best recognised causes of sudden and unexpected death in children. 

Our findings have been endorsed by world-leading experts Professor Peter Schwartz and Professor Reza Razavi, and Australia’s renowned cardiologist Professor Chris Semsarian.   

The genetic findings are also backed by two petitions totalling over 150 scientists and clinical practitioners including three Australian Nobel Laureates. 

Today’s decision points to the need for Australia to build a more scientifically sensitive and informed legal system.  

It must be capable of understanding advances in science and able to apply appropriately the information to legal cases. This will help reduce the likelihood of others enduring the miscarriage of justice that Kathleen Folbigg continues to face.

Science continues to transform our lives and answer some of the world’s greatest mysteries. But why does it matter and what does it actually mean to value science? 

Science not only satisfies our curiosity, it informs and provides evidence for the decisions we make every day. From questions like whether to take an umbrella when we leave our home to complex decisions about the future of our planet.  

The Australian Academy of Science embraces and supports the need for all Australians to be guided by and enjoy the benefits of science.  

It's not just something that affects us – the innovative and collaborative work of Australian scientists allows us to play an important role in global scientific research and related industries. 

We asked six leading scientists #WhyScienceMatters. 

Professor Eddie Holmes FAA FRS – University of Sydney

“One thing we’ve learned from COVID-19 is how important science is, in general.”

Professor Tanya Monro FAA FTSE – Chief Defence Scientist

“Science is about creating impact through knowledge.”

Dr Andy Thomas AO – Australia’s first astronaut

“Having respect for evidence-based thinking would go a long way toward making our political dialogue a lot healthier.”

Professor Xiaojing Hao – UNSW Sydney

“We all want our children to grow up in a world where the climate is stable, and the energy is produced without pollution.”

Associate Professor Misty Jenkins – Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

“It’s imperative that our leadership of this country is scientifically literate.”

Professor Richard Bryant AC FAA – UNSW Sydney

“If we don’t get the science right, there are serious, serious costs.”

Four Australian scientists have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, for their outstanding contributions to scientific understanding.

Professors Carola Vinuesa, Jamie Rossjohn, Richard Robson and Bob Pressey are among a group of 62 individuals worldwide who have been recognised this year by the Royal Society. All are already Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Vinuesa has been recognised for discovering populations of immune T cells, proteins and genes that work to improve the quality of antibodies that fight infectious microbes, while preventing production of harmful antibodies that can cause autoimmune diseases such as lupus or allergies.

“I feel very grateful to the many incredible members of my team and colleagues who have contributed to our discoveries over the last 20 years,” said Professor Vinuesa, who is based at the Francis Crick Institute and the Australian National University.

“Science will be absolutely key for the survival of our species living in a warming planet and in a world with increasing antibiotic resistance and threats of viral pandemics.

“Science can also bring justice to vulnerable people, as we hope to see in the case of Kathleen Folbigg, where genomic advances have proven her innocence after 19 years in jail falsely accused of killing her four children.”

Professor Rossjohn is a leading structural biologist who is principally known for his contributions to the understanding the molecular basis underpinning infectious disease and the vertebrate host response.

He said he felt over the moon and overwhelmed to join the prestigious Royal Society and said his election highlighted the importance of basic research.

“Breakthrough scientific discoveries represent the foundation from which new technologies and therapies ultimately emerge,” said Professor Rossjohn, who is based at Monash University.

“The importance of discovery science is rapidly diminishing in Australia. It is important for science to have a strong voice so that we are trusted and supported by the public and government.”

Royal Society President, Professor Sir Adrian Smith, said it was an honour to welcome so many outstanding researchers from around the world into the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

“Through their careers so far, these researchers have helped further our understanding of human disease, biodiversity loss and the origins of the universe,” said Professor Smith.

“I am also pleased to see so many new Fellows working in areas likely to have a transformative impact on our society over this century, from new materials and energy technologies to synthetic biology and artificial intelligence.”

The Fellowship of the Royal Society includes the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from or living and working in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Each year up to 52 Fellows and up to 10 Foreign Members are elected from a group of about 700 candidates.

Past Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society have included Charles Darwin, Lise Meitner, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Stephen Hawking.

Read the Fellows’ citations and full list of Fellows elected to the Royal Society.

Global demand for prawns has been rising exponentially since the late 1990s. There is, however, an ecological limit to the number of ocean-caught prawns. The solution? Farmed prawns.

Dr Ha Truong from CSIRO was one of two research scientists who spoke about their work at a recent Academy public speaker series event. She was joined by Dr James Gong from Deakin University for ‘Surprising science: prawns and pipes’.

Dr Truong’s work focuses on sustainable ways to farm prawns.

“When we talk about increasing a farming industry, we also have to think about how we can do this sustainably – we have to think about the input and the outputs coming into this system and how we can minimise and better utilise waste to be used as inputs,” she said.

Prawns are notoriously unfussy eaters – discarded prawn heads and shells can be fed back to the growing stock. Prawns are also fed marine worms (which are reared on the farm’s waste); even our unwanted leftover food may one day become prawn food.

By implementing more sustainable circular economy strategies, such as turning waste into feed, we can improve the current linear approach to prawn production.

Shrimps look similar to prawns and belong to the same family of animals. The second speaker of the event, Dr Gong, researches prawns and shrimp from another angle: how taking inspiration from a shrimp can help fix leaky pipes.

“We lose about 255 gigalitres of water a year [in Australia], that’s enough treated water to supply 3.7 million people,” he said.

Detecting leaks in underground pipelines isn’t straightforward. Current techniques use a pulsed pressure wave with monitoring to detect ripples and reflections caused by pipe damage. However, the wave lacks precision so is not ideal for underground pipes. To better pinpoint damage, Dr Gong’s team sought inspiration from nature.

The snapping or pistol shrimp shoots a stream of water out of its large front claw. The stream travels at speeds up 100 km/h, enough to boil the water around it, resulting in a shockwave that stuns the shrimp’s prey.

“Inspired by this shrimp we developed a spark wave generator,” Dr Gong said.

A spark wave generator can be attached to a pipe and produces an electric spark in the water. Like the shrimp, this generates ‘cavitation bubbles’ that burst and create a pressure wave.

The result is a much more precise signal that can travel hundreds of kilometres down the pipe, all thanks to the humble snapping shrimp.

To find out about more nature-inspired solutions, see the next event in the Surprising Science series on 14 June.

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the release of the Australian Government’s 2021 National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Roadmap. The Academy thanks the Expert Working Group for its contributions and guidance, particularly Academy Fellows Dr Ziggy Switkowski, Professor Barbara Howlett and Dr Cathy Foley.

The roadmap makes many noteworthy recommendations to ensure Australia’s research infrastructure is poised to deliver long-term national benefit. The Academy is particularly supportive of the recommendation made in successive roadmaps to establish an Expert NRI Advisory Group, that can deliver strategic advice on priorities, trends and opportunities. The Academy looks forward to this recommendation, among others, being implemented by the next government.

The Academy supports the development of a National Digital Research Infrastructure strategy, and the potential for this strategy to address existing issues included data access and interoperability. This strategy should consider how support for open scholarly communications infrastructure could be delivered. This is urgently needed to support the needs of researchers, funders, policymakers and the Australian public who need to publish, synthesise and access research.

Several recommendations made in the Academy’s submission to the consultation of the draft roadmap appear not to have been included in this final version. In particular, the role of both technicians and NRI Fellows remains under-acknowledged in this document. Technicians commonly have many roles in contributing to research projects and should be adequately recognised.

The challenge framework within the roadmap (recommendation 3) seeks to align the NRI system with national priorities. While this can provide consistency and focus, the Academy warns this framework does not adequately recognise the essential role fundamental research plays in developing solutions for the challenges we hope to address.

Fundamental research can’t always be mapped directly to the national interest or existing government priorities; such research underpins priorities and often contributes to more than one. Fundamental research will have applications to challenges that may not yet be realised, such as pandemics and catastrophic bushfires and floods. This work is critical to the research pipeline, as well as training and support for the workforce, and should not be forfeited in favour of additional applied research that maps more closely to these challenges.

Visit the STEM Women Global website

The Academy’s STEM Women initiative is now extending its reach across the globe. With the support of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and the Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS), the current STEM Women platform will be expanded to include profiles of women scientists from any country in the world.

Building on regional impact

Building on the impact of the existing platforms, this project will facilitate women working in STEM professions across the world to be offered exciting opportunities to progress their careers and personal capabilities.

The project highlights the Academy’s ongoing commitment to promoting gender equity in STEM by showcasing the breadth of scientific talent across the world, so that women researchers and professionals working in STEM across all countries can be easily discovered and offered career-advancing opportunities.

Inclusive by design

As well as expanding the platform for global reach, the project will explore tools and mechanisms to support scientists in exile and will introduce multilingual options for equity of access across locations and cultures.

The platform is expected to launch in November 2022, and expressions of interest to be featured on the platform will open in June.

For more information or to express interest in the project, email: diversity@science.org.au

About the project partners

InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)

Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), more than 140 national, regional and global member academies work together to support the vital role of science in seeking evidence-based solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. In particular, IAP harnesses the expertise of the world’s scientific, medical and engineering leaders to advance sound policies, improve public health, promote excellence in science education, and achieve other critical development goals. IAP’s four regional networks—AASSA, EASAC, IANAS, and NASAC—are responsible for managing and implementing many IAP-funded projects and help make IAP’s work relevant around the world.

Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS)

IANAS is a regional network of Academies of Sciences created to support cooperation towards the strengthening of science and technology as a tool for advancing research and development, prosperity and equity in the Americas.

Network of African Science Academies (NASAC)

NASAC is a consortium of merit-based science academies in Africa and aspires to make the “voice of science” heard by policy and decision makers within Africa and worldwide. NASAC is dedicated to enhancing the capacity of existing national science academies and champions in the cause for creation of new academies where none exist.

The Australian Academy of Science strongly supports the message of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—humanity has the tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and arrest catastrophic climate change, but we need to act now.

Scientific knowledge underpins the solutions to respond to climate change. We have seen the incredible power of our science capability in enabling rapid response to crises and protecting our society during the pandemic. It is not too late to leverage our skilled workforce, scale up existing technologies and harness our natural resources to urgently cut emissions.

The IPCC report has found that global net greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have continued to rise in the last decade and have increased across all major sectors since 2010. However, the world has made some progress, with the rate of growth in emissions between 2010 and 2019 lower than the previous decade.

Australians are already experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change which contributed to the recent floods in NSW and QLD, and the 2019–20 summer bushfires. As identified in the Academy’s report The risks to Australia of a 3°C warmer world, without action, these events are expected to become more frequent and intense in the future.

Without further policy action, global warming between 2.2 and 3.5°C is expected within the next 80 years. All countries and sectors need to act now to limit future warming by rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. We need to halve global carbon dioxide emissions within the next decade to have a 50% chance at restricting warming to 1.5°C.

The IPCC report shows a path and the tools to reduce our emissions across energy, industry, cities, agriculture and transport, but rapid, fundamental change is required. Both technological solutions and policy actions are needed to transition to net zero and beyond to net negative emissions.

The report presents opportunities for Australian industries that support our national interest including energy, critical minerals and agriculture. Australia is in a strong position to capitalise on its natural resource wealth including critical minerals such as lithium and copper for clean energy technologies. Green steel and hydrogen are also potential export industries.

Agriculture (and land use) is a large contributor to emissions. Measures such as carbon trading, sustainable crop management, soil carbon management and biochar can improve soil fertility, provide income to farmers and reduce emissions. Conserving ecosystems such as coastal waterways and using our large land mass for afforestation would also help.

Australia’s cities will need to employ solutions such as renewable energies, electrified transport, and carbon uptake and storage through building materials to reduce emissions.

The solutions we need to contribute our fair share to global efforts to reduce emissions are more readily available than ever before. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change on our health, economic security and environment now and into the future, Australia’s leaders must move to swiftly and decisively reduce emissions and deploy scientifically proven technologies that will decarbonise our nation while creating jobs and protecting our economic prosperity.

Professor John Shine AC PresAA FAHMS(Hon) FRS
President
Australian Academy of Science

The degree of personal surveillance and body monitoring currently tolerated in professional sport may be permitted in community sports and other workplaces if the current status quo of collecting excessive personal data remains unchallenged, according to a leading group of experts.

As some of the world’s great sports enthusiasts, Australians might think they know about the role athlete data plays in professional sport.

But as sports fans, not just in Australia but around the world, watch their favourite athletes in action, how many of them are aware of the full extent of personal information being collected on and off the field, from sensor and video-based monitoring of athlete’s bodies during competition and training, to the intimacies of mental health, sleep quality, food intake and menstruation?

A new discussion paper released today, by the 12-member Expert Working Group convened by the Australian Academy of Science and the University of Western Australia’s Minderoo Tech & Policy Lab, says the growth in personal information collected about Australian professional athletes has outpaced the scientifically proven benefit to players, with the number of parties interested in this information – especially commercial parties – dramatically shifting the risk vs reward ratio against the athletes.

The discussion paper seeks to start a national conversation to identify gaps and potential risks related to sports data governance across the major football codes, basketball, netball and cricket in Australia. The working group says legal and ethical guardrails and a significant uplift in literacy and governance are necessary to ensure that athletes and their rights are protected and promoted, both in their own interest and in the public interest.

The group focused its attention on professional sport as the frontier of human monitoring but expressed concern that there is increasing uptake of these practices and technologies in junior sports and development pathways.

Led by co-chairs Associate Professor of Law and Technology Julia Powles and Professor of Artificial Intelligence Toby Walsh FAA and domain experts in sports science and sports governance, the group found collecting personal information on and off the field is now so commonplace that it is simply a matter of routine.

Many athletes and the broader public are unaware of how expansive and invasive the practice has become, prompting the question: what are we really measuring and why?

Associate Professor Powles said there is an alarming distance between how sports currently manage athlete information and existing legal requirements.

“Athlete data collection is almost completely unregulated, leaving it open to serious risks including privacy and security breaches, commercial exploitation, and misuse that impacts on careers and livelihoods,” said Associate Professor Powles.

“This is all the more startling when assessed against the minimal gains this powder keg of data delivers, in terms of improving player performance, development and wellbeing.”

Professor Walsh said the team was eager to initiate a discussion on the necessary limits to be placed on data collection and use in professional sport to avoid exploitation of athletes.

“With no disincentives and limited perceived risk around amassing ever-more data, accompanied by speculative promises that machine learning and future technologies will reveal novel insights, many sports currently have more data than they can demonstrate is useful,” Professor Walsh said.

The conclusion of the Expert Working Group is that Australia has a historic opportunity to set forward-looking practices for sports data governance, including legal, organisational and ethical limits around athlete data collection and use.

The Australian Academy of Science acknowledges support from the Minderoo Foundation’s Frontier Technology Initiative and the UWA Tech & Policy Lab for this project.

Read the full report

Launch event

6pm, 13 April 2022

The discussion paper is being launched at an event that is bringing together experts in professional sport, sport science, artificial intelligence, law, and governance to discuss the issues raised in the paper. The panel discussion will be chaired by renowned sports broadcaster Tracey Holmes.

Watch the launch event

Australia must seize the opportunity to secure our future economic and social prosperity through investment in science, says the Australian Academy of Science in a released position statement.

The statement, published ahead of the 2022 federal election, contains recommendations for the next Australian government to help secure Australian jobs and industries with science.

“We are living through one of the most far-reaching upheavals since the Industrial Revolution,” says Academy President Professor John Shine.

“Science affects every domain of society, government, national identity and security – how will we embrace the possibilities of science, and secure the benefits of this transformation for Australians?”

The pandemic in Australia has brought about great purpose but also great uncertainty for scientists, who have been affected by reduced funding, job losses, increased workload and declining morale.

Despite one-off funding measures during the pandemic, Australia’s investment in research and development as a percentage of GDP has declined over the past decade.

“The science which helped inform the public health response to the pandemic – and designed, tested and manufactured vaccines – resulted from decades of patient investment worldwide and in Australia,” says Academy Chief Executive, Anna-Maria Arabia.

“At the time of investment, we couldn’t have known what we would face in the future – but patient investment secured the knowledge Australia needed to respond to a global pandemic.

“If we had waited for the crisis to invest, it would have been too late.”

The statement calls on the next Australian government to secure Australia’s future through:

1. securing the scientific base through a long-term investment strategy for science
2. advancing a cohesive, national approach to securing new jobs and industries through science and technology
3. establishing robust and permanent mechanisms for independent science advice to inform policy across all of government
4. undertaking a national whole-of-government review of the science and research system.

Read the full statement.