The Coalition wants to turn scientists into lapdogs – and muzzle climate research in the process

Policies matter. Good policies lead to good outcomes, while bad policies can lead to disaster. But what about where there is no policy, or a policy that is incohesive and incomplete? We only need to look at the state of science research policy in Australia to find out.

Why would you want to fund the nagging voice of science?
No need to shoot the messenger when you can simply
starve them to death.’

Scientific research in Australia has always suffered from political influence, because research in Australia is heavily dependent on federal government funding. But political interference in scientific research has been weaponised during the past decade of Coalition governments.

The most obvious and destructive manifestation of this political interference on the nation’s scientific research effort is the lack of a comprehensive science policy. It can be argued that some consequences of this meddling in the research effort have been this summer’s bushfire emergency and the widespread environmental destruction, mostly initiated via climate change.

Read the story from The Guardian by Paul Willis - “The Coalition wants to turn scientists into lapdogs – and muzzle climate research in the process.”