Many, many years ago, I trained as a chemist and have always had a liking for science and what it can offer. In the world of research, a regular lament is the lack of resources available to researchers here in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A quick AI search revealed that in 2022, South Korea spent 5.2% of its GDP on R&D compared to Australia’s 1.9%<\/strong>. The US spent 3.6% and Japan 3.4%<\/strong>. OK, AI research should be treated with a hefty dose of scepticism, but the numbers mirror those that I developed in pre-AI days (2018)<\/strong>. In 2022, South Korea’s population was about double Australia\u2019s, 26.3 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I know that there are a squillion ways to massage the numbers and all sorts of justifications we can put in place, but I also know that I spent the vast majority of my working career looking for money and justifying what I reckon was meagre expenditure rather than smashing the frontiers of science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One justification for reducing publicly funded research is that universities can do the work. This was one of the reasons given for the recent announcement that CSIRO staff numbers were being reduced.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe this to be a flawed argument.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n