Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am speaking on this motion, as I welcome the opportunity to support any measure that seeks to encourage more people into science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I note that the substantive point of this motion is to encourage more women into the area of STEM. To guarantee tomorrow the living standard that we have today we need more money and more people investing in STEM. STEM studies and careers are investments in the future prosperity of the nation. Achieving a 50-50 split of a male-female divide in every profession would be a lovely situation. The simple fact is policy directive should not be held hostage to ideological shackles. The best talent should get the best support, male or female. It is interesting to note that women's progress in breaking into STEM has slowed down in recent decades, and it is not only in Australia.

Using US data for degrees conferred on women, the number of women in computer science peaked, in the US, in 1983 at 37 per cent. Data from the American Physical Society on the percentage of women receiving degrees as a percentage of all degrees awarded shows that 2000 was when women peaked at 36 per cent for STEM and 21 per cent for physics. The question is: does it make a difference if it is a woman or a man? The other consideration is: where, when and how are we ever likely to get the gender balance in STEM? What is the practical implementation of good intentions, like quotas? Is it saying no to talented males?

Short-term positive discrimination can have long-term negative outcomes. Data around STEM points to one conclusion. There are areas of science where women are interested and there are other areas where they are not. Science has many subcategories. To hold up some STEM categories as being more valid than other science categories is wrong and foolish.

It is true that, as a country, we need to lift our rates of female participation in the workforce. Increasing female participation and employment rates is one of the lowest-hanging fruits of economic growth and one of the most fertile. The positive spillover effects from more women in work are many and varied but, crucially, they impact on every corner of our society. STEM is the foundation upon which a high-value-added, high-tech economic strategy must be built. If we are to stay competitive in our region and in the world then our country must simply become more proficient at STEM subjects at every level—primary, secondary and tertiary.

The simple fact is, as this place's only PhD-qualified scientist, I have long advocated and espoused the benefits of funding scientific research. Studies have shown a positive return on money invested in research and development activities. This allows our scientists the latitude to dream and explore the outer limits of their understanding, leading to society enjoying an improved standard of living. Australians are innovators. We need only look at CSIRO as an example of an institution that punches above its weight and whose endeavours have touched us all. It was Australian scientists at the CSIRO that gave us wi-fi. West Australian Nobel-Prize-winning researchers also discovered the link between certain bacteria and stomach ulcers, which led to a new wave of treatment.

We should be focusing on skills, needs, interests and requirements, and not on gender. I hope in my next great endeavour—that of trying to remove the prohibitions on nuclear energy in Australia—that I am joined by many fine female scientists.

See this speech in context