Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

The motion that Senator Bushby has put forward on behalf Senator McKenzie suggests that there has been quite a bit missed during the past three months, in particular the budget. Senator McKenzie, in her motion, wants to give the government a pat on the back for continuing Future Fellowships, a program to help midcareer researchers that Labor set up when we were in office, but she ignores the devastation that the government has wreaked on Australia's total R&D capacity by its budget cuts: a massive $5.8 billion ripped from the higher education sector and more than $2.5 billion gone from the industry department, including $845 million allocated to innovation programs that the government has axed. The $139.5 million for the Future Fellowships over four years scarcely compensates for the damage the budget has done to Australia's R&D potential. To pass this motion—and we will be opposing it—would be like applauding vandals who have trashed a public building for building a facade that conceals the damage they have done.

Question negatived.