Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers provided by Senator Ronaldson earlier today. The coalition has pandered to a small but vocal antiscience chorus for more than a decade. The Abbott government did not release a science policy. They have not appointed a minister for science. We have a Prime Minister who has declared that he believes that climate change is 'crap', a view that is shared by many other people on the other side of the chamber. And, since the election, this government has ruthlessly slashed funding for the sciences, threatened the independence of our research institutions and worked actively to undermine the integrity of Australian scientists.

There are more cuts around the corner, and the Commission of Audit is sitting there, as a previous senator pointed out, in secret, deciding which programs are going to be recommended for axing. These are cuts to our future prosperity, and the scientific community, like the rest of Australia, have been left in the dark, hoping that this budget will not be the blackest in our history. Which of our great scientific research centres, which of our great technological research projects and which of our leading centres of innovation are going to face the axe? Joe Hockey has confirmed that the government will adopt the great majority of the commission's recommendations. We are asking for transparency to find out which science and research funding is on the chopping block.

The Prime Minister's proposal to not commit to releasing the Commission of Audit's report until just before the budget is astonishing. When the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was the opposition leader he argued for the release of the Henry tax review, and I quote him here: 'Issues of great moment for Australia's economic future and for the welfare of Australia's families should not be hidden.' I will say that again: 'should not be hidden'. Yet we do not know which of our scientific research programs the Commission of Audit will recommend cutting because the report is being kept secret.

The Abbott government has already shown a willingness to slash funding for science research. Australia's national ICT research centres have had $42 million slashed in the last budget MYEFO. Up to 1,400 scientists at the CSIRO will not have their contracts renewed. A centre of excellence for oil and gas technologies in Perth has had its funding of $10 million cut already. The government refuses to confirm their commitment to a global hub for oil and gas innovation in Western Australia that Shell, Woodside, Santos and many other companies have supported along with the CSIRO and a number of universities—an alliance that would have given a much needed boost to Western Australia's efforts to face the future after the mining boom and cement itself as a global technology leader and employment hub.

But I want to draw the Senate's attention to one of the most truly astonishing collaborative science projects in history which will require significant funding to reach its unique potential. The Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will be built in Western Australia in cooperation with partners in New Zealand and South Australia. The SKA will be 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument and will be able to survey the sky more than 10,000 times faster than ever before. The Labor government supported the project through a $289-million investment in Western Australia on infrastructure to support the SKA. We provided $80 million of funding for the Pawsey high-performance community centre. We provided another $118 million in funding for the latest astronomical technology to be built by the CSIRO in Murchison.

We also committed to funding and properly building the NBN. Labor were a staunch defender of science when it was under threat from deniers and sceptics. Labor oversaw the growth of a network of national research institutions. Labor guaranteed academic freedom at universities— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.