Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the minister in congratulating all the winners of the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science in the function that was held last night in the Great Hall. I must say it's one of the best occasions that you get to be part of as Prime Minister—to give due credit to the extraordinary capacity of Australian scientists and these remarkable individuals who are nominated but also the winners of these prizes, including the prizes where we have upped the reward for teachers of both primary school and secondary school. It's not about the money; it's about sending that message that it's valued. In addition to my congratulations to all the winners and all those who participated last night, I want to add that it's very daunting, I've got to say, to be in the Great Hall with these extraordinarily intelligent Australians—and politicians! It's just daunting to hear what they are able to achieve.

I want to pay tribute as well, as I did last night, to Dr Cathy Foley, our Chief Scientist, who has done a remarkable job. Her term will finish at the end of this year. One of the best things I do as Prime Minister is attend the regular meetings of the roundtable that I chair. I've attended every single one of those meetings because, at every single one of those meetings, I learn a lot, and the engagement and the knowledge that I receive about what Australia's scientists are doing is worthy of applause and worthy of support from everyone in this parliament but more importantly from everyone in this country.

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