Anna Maria Arabia

It's what makes us strong.

It's what keeps us open.

It's what enables us to benefit from knowledge around the world and Australia needs that.

I think we need an army of champions of science, leading voices who are showing and illustrating the value of science in our society, the need for science to guide our future, to guide our decisions.

I mean, really, Robin, science is everywhere.

And it is actually spoken about in many ways, possibly without using the word science.

So when I look at people who put solar panels on their roofs, they're benefiting from science.

Research done here, but sold in China, in a huge industry.

Indeed.

When I look at technological advancement and when I see parliamentarians, ministers and others...

talk about energy transitions, talk about national security, talk about technology transfer, talk about most things on their agenda.

Beneath that, within that, driving that is actually science.

And I think we can do better to translate those stories so that they appear in that public discourse.

When you hear politicians and members of the public talk about the cost of living...

it's as though that's separate to science it's in no way separate to science agricultural science means that our agricultural yields are greater if there's more food being grown it's cheaper it's cheaper at the supermarket there is a direct link and that is in everything we do it is so ubiquitous sometimes it's not seen

So I think we do need to get better at telling those stories and championing science at every opportunity to telling the good stories of science but not shying away from, you know, perhaps alerting around the possible missed opportunities if we do take our eye off the ball.

That was a really catalytic moment.

So Barry Jones did call those scientists wimps.

He was seeking to improve investment for science in the Cabinet and felt that he didn't have the support of the sector, that they weren't able to organise themselves in a way to give strength to his arm.

And they had actually been protesting around cuts to science and creating some chaos, which is never a bad thing, really.