STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (13:40): This week is National Science Week. It's a chance to celebrate the people who quietly make this country a better place. As we all know, Australians have punched well above their weight for many, many decades.

The wi-fi we use in this building traces back to CSIRO researchers working on radio astronomy. The cochlear implant has changed the lives of millions. The cervical cancer vaccine has us on track for elimination.

These innovations were the product of decades of investment in science, and unfortunately we are living off the past. We're living off our inheritance rather than actually investing in the future. As a country, we invest a piddling 1.69 per cent of GDP in R&D.

The OECD average is 2.72 per cent. We rank 40th out of 44 OECD nations for STEM graduates as a share of tertiary graduates. The R&D gap in this country is roughly $30 billion a year—if we are to be serious about science.

Australians want action. They want more long-term thinking in this place; they want investment in our future. Over 22,000 people have signed my petition to save the CSIRO, and more than 35,000 have emailed their MP through the Academy of Science's Restore Science campaign.

Nine in 10 Australians say that science makes their lives better. But we can't keep asking researchers to do more with less. The Albanese government needs to step up and actually implement the SERD review and fund research in this country like it matters.