KEY POINTS
- For the first time, charters have been drawn up between the Government and the public research agencies in the Innovation portfolio, confirming the rights and obligations of researchers to participate in public debates on issues in their fields of expertise.
- The charters confirm the right to freedom of expression by researchers in the four public research agencies in the Innovation portfolio:
- the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO);
- the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS);
- the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO); and
- the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
- The charters were developed as there was concern among researchers that they could not speak out on contentious scientific issues – in fields where they held a specialist expertise – without risking some form of reprimand.
- Scientific debate plays an essential role in informing decisions about options for dealing with the wide range of pressing issues a society faces.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Australia faces a number of major social, economic and environmental issues - the reality of climate change, environmental degradation and technological challenges such as the need to address options for renewable energy to name just a few. How Australia responds to these issues will affect the sustainability of our communities and our capacity to create new jobs in new areas of economic activity.
Robust and confident debate providing an informed basis for decisions and a wider community understanding of those decisions is imperative and this can not happen without the engagement of the scientific community, including our public research agencies.
Research agencies have self-evident functions: discovery research, the creation of new knowledge and technologies, the development of scientifically informed management plans and the training of our next generation of scientists.
But they have another core function, which is civil engagement. This cannot be achieved if scientists do not feel that they will be supported to engage in public debates.
The charters provide the security to allow scientists to make a public contribution. Research agencies have the intellectual capabilities to better inform the public and better inform governments in making policy decisions.
The charters are designed to achieve the best use of these resources. They encourage open communication and dissemination of research findings; encourage debate on research issues of public interest; recognise the role of researchers in such communication and debate, and the contestability of ideas. They also confirm the independence and integrity of Australia's public research agencies in pursuing their research activities.
Scientists within the public research agencies serve a vital role in providing analysis and advice to Government to inform the process of policy formulation but, at the end of the day, it is the Government which has responsibility for policy formulation.
The charters do not go so far as to define obligations for researchers to correct factual errors in the public domain. However, as scientists are generally disposed to address factual errors and, given the platform provided by the charters, it is expected that they will seek to do so when opportunities arise to participate in public debate.