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7 Landsborough Street 10
November 2000 Senator the Hon. Nick Minchin Dear
Minister I
am writing in response to your letter to Professor Serjeantson of 23 October
2000 on the economic benefits of exploration activity, publicly funded
geoscience information and publicly funded geoscience research in Australia. She
suggested that, as the Australian Geoscience Council raised this matter in
FASTS, it would be appropriate for AGC to deal with this specific issue from now
on. The
Australian Geoscience Council is a member of FASTS, it comprises seven societies
and associations, has a total membership of about 10 000 and represents most of
the geoscientists in Australia. A key aim of the AGC is to promote the geosciences,
in the best interests of both our constituent organisations and the Australian
nation as a whole. In this context we were concerned by the absence of
statistics on the economic value of several important investment activities in
the geoscience sector, and are pleased that your Department is considering this
issue in determining its future work program. We would therefore appreciate advice on the
composition of that work program when it is finalised. At a recent meeting of our Council (held during the
‘Science Meets Parliament’ days) we identified three key long-term goals for
the AGC. These are to:
One of the issues we are focussing on is the misguided perception, held in many areas, that the Mineral and Petroleum exploration and extraction industries are ‘low technology’ ‘old economy’ industries. We were therefore pleased to read your media release of 9 October 2000 entitled: Mining Industry a 'New Economy’ Mainstay. We believe that most people in Australia do not realise the extensive use of ‘new technologies’ in these industries, and welcome your statement to correct these misconceptions. Finally I would like to say that a delegation form the AGC had a very fruitful meeting with Mr Entsch during the SMP days. We reinforced our views that one of the key actions the government could take to encourage mineral and petroleum exploration investment in Australia is to establish a ‘National Geoscience Online’ facility whereby geoscience information acquired by public funding is made available online in a timely manner and at affordable prices. We also expressed concern at the situation regarding land access for exploration activities, but realise the political and legal complexities involved, and hope that progress can be made soon on this crucial issue. Yours sincerely David Denham Dr David Denham AM, Tel: 02 6295 3014, Email denham@atrax.net.au |
The Australian Geoscience Council Inc. © 1999 - 2003 |
