Prominent and ordinary Australians show their support for science

Australian scientists, technologists and celebrities have signed an Open Letter to reinforce their support for, and the significant value of, science and technology.

Released on 22 April, the letter comes in the wake of what appears to be a rise in ‘alternative facts’ and a growing disregard for evidence-based decision-making. Its release coincided with the March for Science, which also took place on 22 April and attracted millions of participants internationally.

Signatories of the Open Letter include comedian and director Tim Minchin; director and businessman Todd Sampson; Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt; Australian of the Year Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim; author and comedian Adam Spencer; Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation at the University of South Australia, Professor Tanya Monro; and many more prominent Australians who support and defend the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“In Australia, it’s important that we emphasise the need for our own government to enable research through long-term and strategic investment in science and technology,” said Professor Jim Piper, president of Science & Technology Australia (STA).

“Australia is making great progress towards this, but we can’t lose sight of what could go wrong if we fail in our support for science across government, industry and the community.”

The CEO of STA, Kylie Walker, said the letter was also intended to demonstrate Australia’s commitment to furthering knowledge beyond our own borders.

 “Science is by its very nature a collaborative enterprise. International cooperation between researchers is vital to advancing the sum of knowledge,” she said.

“The common language of science bridges cultural divides, leads to richer exploration of ideas from new perspectives and serves to make the world healthier and more resilient when faced by a period of global change.”

The release of the letter comes just days after a new ANU poll found that a large majority of Australians support science and want politicians to rely more on the advice of scientists and experts.

Conducted by The Australian National University (ANU), the poll found that 67% of those surveyed believe science is best funded by government rather than private business, while 82% believe politicians should rely more on expert scientific advice. Meanwhile, 94% believe scientists and industry should cooperate more with each other.

The results were of particular interest to co-lead researcher Professor Matthew Gray, who noted that Australian spending on R&D has fallen to around 2.1% of GDP and below the OECD average of 2.4% of GDP, with private sector investment well below other nations.

“In Australia a smaller proportion of expenditure on R&D is contributed by the private sector compared to other OECD countries,” Professor Gray said.

“The figure for Australia in 2013 was 56.3% compared to an OECD average of 81.1%, and well below the United States (70.6%), Japan (76.1%) and Germany (67.2%).

Co-lead researcher Dr Jill Sheppard said with science currently at the centre of some of the major policy debates, people “want the policymakers to listen to and take advice from scientific experts”.

“The findings show Australians are also looking for scientists to help them sort facts from fiction in the modern world of fake news and so-called alternative facts,” she said.

The poll’s findings can be viewed here.