Fund serious science, not idiocy

Research funding is scarce and precious but as the projects awarded support and recognition in the 2024 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science show, those resources drive discoveries of ultimate benefit to the nation and the world. Top-level science is one of Australia’s strengths, evident in the work of Tuesday night’s winners. As reported in higher education, they include scientists who excel in astrophysics, improving bone marrow cancer treatment, green energy innovation and making surgery safer for child patients. The awards to the nation’s top science teachers are especially important, given the need for more students to engage with the subject in preference to soft options. That fall-off is potentially catastrophic, as Prime Minister’s science prize winner, astrophysicist Matthew Bailes, is warning. It must be tackled through the school system.

Given the need for further investment in research, both philanthropists and government have key roles to play. And as the custodian of public money, government has a serious responsibility to ensure it is well spent. That is not the case, as Sarah Ison revealed on Tuesday, with the Australian Research Council providing almost $500,000 for Sydney University to “disprove’’ the “protectionist myth” that Australia is “an island continent girt by sea”. The University of Queensland was handed $460,000 to “identify the causes of gender bias in staged English-language translations of Ancient Greek tragedy’’. Ho hum.

Part of the problem is that under legislative changes passed by Labor last year, government ministers are no longer able to directly approve or veto grants. That foolhardy decision should be reversed.