Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to second this motion moved by my friend and colleague and, of course, Australia's former minister for industry and science. Today marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This affords us the opportunity to further recognise the role that women and girls play in science, while promoting STEM careers to future generations of women.

As we know, many scientific leaders over the centuries have been women and they have advanced the frontiers of human knowledge—women like Marie Curie, Rachel Carson and Ada Lovelace, and Rosalind Franklin, who had an important role in the discovery of DNA. We have many distinguished women scientists in Australia. The Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley, has already been named. She's a great champion of women and of diversity. I'm pleased to say she is a constituent of mine in Bradfield. Tanya Monro is an Australian physicist known for her work in photonics, who became the first ever female Chief Defence Scientist. I want to particularly acknowledge Patricia Selkirk, who was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours List halfway through last year. She is a resident of my electorate, and she's made a very distinguished contribution to Antarctic science over many decades.

The evidence is very, very clear, if any proof be required, of the distinguished contribution that women have made to science in Australia and globally. But there is much more that we need to do. STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—careers are enormously important, and the sectors which draw on these careers are continuing to expand. We know, as a general proposition, that diversity leads to better problem-solving, as people bring different perspectives and the more different perspectives that are brought to a problem the more likely the problem is to be solved. That is as true of gender diversity as it is of other kinds of diversity.

Over the last few months, I've had the opportunity to meet a number of very impressive women leaders in my work as shadow minister for science. I'll mention just a few. There's Michelle Simmons, who was Australian of the Year in 2018 and is a global leader in quantum computing from her very impressive lab at UNSW, and who I've had the chance to meet. She leads a very dedicated and highly qualified team of people working at the very frontiers of knowledge. There's Professor Madhu Bhaskaran, who co-leads the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT University. She's also the co-founder of the Women Researchers' Network at RMIT University and a board member of Women in STEM Australia. There's Professor Orsola De Marco, at the Research Centre for Astronomy at Macquarie University.

What stands out amongst these outstanding women and others I've had the opportunity to meet is not only their distinguished achievements in scientific research and discovery, but also the work they do to champion careers in science to women at all levels—girls in high school who may be thinking about science as a career; undergraduate students making that decision as to whether they might pursue postgraduate study and a PhD; postdoctoral students and academics at the early stages of their career; women throughout all stages of their careers.

The reality is that there remains a set of challenges facing women scientists and women researchers when it comes to juggling the many demands in their lives, including family and motherhood responsibilities in many cases. We also know that women who achieve prominence and distinction get called upon to give assistance and support in so many ways. So the demands that leading women scientists face, in many ways, are of a different character to those faced by male scientists.

We all take enormous pride in our scientists generally, but particularly in our women scientists. A great deal has been achieved, but it's clear that more needs to be done. I'm very pleased to lend my voice in support on this motion on this International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

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