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The Hon. Warren
Truss, MP 13 May 2002 Dear Minister Funding for Research Priorities On behalf of the Australian Geoscience Council, I am writing concerning the announcement on research priority areas for the Australian Research Council’s 2003 funding round, by your colleague Dr Brendan Nelson in January this year.
The Australian Geoscience Council comprises nine societies and associations, has a membership of over 7000 and represents most of the professional geoscientists in Australia. A key aim of the AGC is to promote the geosciences, in the best interests of both our constituent organisations and Australia as a whole. The AGC supports a national prioritisation process for publicly funded research and development, and we support Dr Nelson’s statement that Australia should “focus its research effort on particular areas in which we have world class, leading edge capabilities” and where “they have the potential to deliver significant economic and social benefits to the Australian community.” However, given these words, we were surprised that research on matters relating to land degradation and water quality did not make the priority list (nano- and bio-materials, genome/phenome research, complex/intelligent systems, and photon science and technology, were the only four areas on the list and will receive a total of 33 per cent of ARC funding for 2003).
We are faced with huge challenges in respect of land degradation and deteriorating water quality across the whole continent. We must aim to ensure that our land and water management practices will sustain productive and profitable land and water uses, as well as our natural environments. The AGC believes strongly that land and water issues should rank as one of the more important for the nation, and consequently we will require a major research effort in these sectors to underpin national action plans.
As a member of the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council, and also having responsibility for land and water issues in the AFFA portfolio, you have a key role in these issues. We are therefore urging you to make strong representations in the current review on research priorities, being carried out in the Department of Education Science and Training, so that land and water are identified as priority research areas as far as ARC and other Commonwealth Government funding agencies are concerned. The economic and social impacts of land and water necessitate a major national research investment. Yours faithfully
David Denham
28-Dec-2002 |
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