A Critical Vote Down Under
Ian Lowe
An election will be held in Australia later this year. The conservative government of John Howard has been in power for 11 years--bad years for basic science. Although medical research has done well, overall public funding of science has declined from 0.77 to 0.59% of gross domestic product, placing Australia among the bottom countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in science investment. Public policies have also caused a decline in commercial research and innovation. Whereas previous governments had encouraged private-sector R&D with a 150% tax concession, the first Howard budget cut that program, doubling the cost of research for profitable private companies. Commercial research spending fell dramatically and has only just returned to the 1996 level.
Ian Lowe is an emeritus professor at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He was previously the head of the university's School of Science.
