Australians are constantly told that science is central to the nation’s future; that much social and economic success will rest on the shoulders of our engineers, technicians, researchers, chemists and physicists. But we are kidding ourselves if we think we are on track to deliver the people and expertise required.

Last year, the Australian government announced a commitment to widen the talent pipeline and address “a decade long science and tech skills shortage”. Engineers Australia called on the Australian government to invest in an engineering pipeline strategy to address “plummeting rates of secondary students taking up STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) subjects [that] is setting the nation up to fail as it transitions to a smart jobs economy”.