Chief scientist calls for experts not 'ranting entertainers' to lead debate
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Version 0 of 1. “Ranting entertainers” are hijacking the sensible debate on food production, chief scientist Ian Chubb has said, in a thinly-veiled reference to radio shock jocks. Chubb on Wednesday released a report looking at the economic benefits of the physical sciences and mathematics. He said governments needed to take a longer view to protect the industry, worth $145bn to the economy each year. “We tend to do things on a small scale and then through various financial arrangements terminating program grants and all that, then you stop-start too often,” Chubb said. “We have to take that more strategic and long-term run.” He said people needed to be “well informed” about genetically modified food and listen to the voice of respected scientists. “People need to understand the difference between an expert and a ranting entertainer. Those sorts of things are really important for us as a nation to address and have a mature, sophisticated debate about where some of these things will take us,” Chubb said. He would not be drawn on who exactly he was referring to. “You have to get information from respectable, reasonable sources and have that debate properly and not just throw doubt in there because you have a particular view and, therefore, you do sow doubt. I think there is a lot of room to grow in the debate,” he said. Broadcaster Alan Jones has long campaigned against coal seam gas, and cited its effects on food growth and production. He spoke at a food security forum before Queensland’s 2012 state election. The chief scientist has had his tenure extended until the end of 2015, despite being critical of prime minister Tony Abbott’s handling of the science portfolio. He again criticised the government at the National Press Club on Wednesday. “I don’t think we need as a group of scientists ever to go through the last 12 months and the last few weeks,” he said Abbott told parliament he would like to spend more on science, but was constrained by the budget. “This is a government which takes science seriously. But ... this is also a government which takes budget responsibility seriously,” Abbott said. “The best thing we can do for all of our greatest institutions is to be in a position to make them sustainable, to give them sustainable long-term funding for the years and decades ahead. “Above all else, this is a government which is absolutely committed to budget responsibility.” |