Further thoughts on diversity and adaptability in Australian science policy

Abstract

For more than 50 years the government of Australia has been connected with the performance of scientific research and development, and in all that time there has been but one review of the entire system. Official reviews of particular sectors of governmental research have been carried out in the past, and these have usually resulted in organisational changes. When, for example, the Institute for Science and Industry became the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1926, 1 and this, in turn, became the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in 1949, 2 it was a result of official reviews of the operations of Australia's main scientific research organisation. The Defence Science and Technology Organization, too, has been subjected to official review and most of the recommended changes have been put into effect.3 It was not until 1975, however, that a comprehensive review of the whole range of governmental research was thought to be necessary; it was carried out by the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration,4 appointed by the Labor Government in 1974 and engaged at the time in the fullest examination of the Australian public service since its foundation. The deterioration of morale and the widespread sense of frustration evident in the submissions it had received from scientists employed in government, except those employed in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, prompted the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration to undertake this review, and it appointed a science task force to assist it in making its recommendations. The task force was to review the existing organisation of scientific research and of scientific services in government, to suggest appropriate institutional and managerial arrangements for research and service activities, to assess the adequacy of present arrangements for determining conditions of employment and careers for scientific and quasi-scientific staff, and to suggest desirable changes. The report of the task force was presented to the Royal Commission