In
the latest government demonstration of scientific ineptitude, Prime Minister
Tony Abbott has instructed Chief Scientist Ian Chubb to put the recently
released strategic research priorities into plain English. The phrase ‘human systems’ as a term for the
word ‘habitat’ ostensibly stumped the PM, who wants scientific jargon removed
from the report.
Not
at all surprising from the man whose objectionable intellect was responsible
for a well thought out response to the science of climate change. He called it “absolute crap”.
Australia
will never make any scientific progress under an Abbott government, because
Abbott himself is so determined to steamroll science in favour of religion and
his oh-so-precious border protection policies that make a mockery of basic
human rights as well as UN conventions.
Sadly,
he seems to be succeeding in his mission to repudiate science in Australia.
One
of the first moves the Abbott government made upon election was to abolish the
position of a dedicated Minister for Science, something every other government
has had since 1931. Abbott defended this
move by stating “It’s been remarked upon that we don’t have a minister for
science as such in the new government and I know that [people] may have been
momentarily dismayed by that, but let me tell you that the United States does
not have a secretary for science and no nation on Earth has been as successful
and innovative as the United States.”.
Perhaps
Mr Abbott needs reminding that we are Australia, not America? That, as a nation, our potential for innovation
and scientific progress is, at times, completely unique to the rest of the
world? The sheer vastness and diversity
of our country provides us with opportunities singular to any other continent
and to so easily dismiss the advancements made by Australian scientists, and
the potential of Australian scientists to make further advancements, because
we’re not as ‘successful’ or ‘innovative’ as the United States is degrading to
all Australian scientists. It’s also embarrassing.
But
perhaps the issue is not that he needs reminding that we are Australia and not
America; after all this is the PM who abolished the Minister for Science
position in his cabinet, yet has a Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the
Public Service position, a Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the
Centenary of ANZAC and fewer women in his cabinet than the government of
Afghanistan has in theirs, so clearly he has his priorities well thought out,
and his focus is where it should be.
The
scientific community of Australia, for the most part, was not “momentarily
dismayed” by the failure to elect a Minister for Science. It was appalled. Even prominent Canadian scientist David
Suzuki, who was visiting Australia at the time, commented on the situation by
saying “What the hell kind of government is it that comes into office and the
first symbolic act is to shut down a source of information? The minute you shut down solid scientific
information then you can run it on your ideology.”
Predictably,
there was also no Minister for Climate Change.
Why assign a minister for a science you fail to understand and therefore
declare it “absolute crap”, in Abbott’s own words? And, unfortunately for us,
it did not stop there.
Abbott
then personally introduced legislation to repeal the carbon tax.
Meanwhile,
our Environment Minister was too busy looking up references on Wikipedia to
attend international climate change negotiations in Warsaw in late November
2013. This is the same minister who also
announced that he would commence the closure of the Climate Change Authority as
well as the Climate Change Commission.
Although, in fairness, with no carbon tax, there is no real need for the
Climate Change Authority whose main focus was on recommending the best carbon
prices, as well as setting the national emission reduction targets.
It seems it is now more important to deny
climate change than acknowledge that a lack of serious action now has the
future potential to devastate the sunburnt land we call home.
And
then there was the CSIRO.
The
premier science agency in Australia is one of the largest and most diverse
research agencies in the world; comprised of National Research Flagships,
National Facilities, twelve research divisions and a range of international
standard laboratories. However, up to a
quarter of scientists, researchers and workers at the agency stand to lose
their jobs under the public service job freeze.
Not only did the freeze threaten the jobs of up to 1400 CSIRO workers,
it has the potential to devastate the progress of some of the organisation’s
top research projects.
Therein
lies the issue with how the government’s failure to invest in science and
scientific progress will adversely affect medicine and healthcare: In order to
have any progress in medicine, and ultimately healthcare, we must have progress
in science.
In
simplistic terms, medicine itself is the application of specialised fields of
science such as biochemistry, neuroscience, pharmacology, genetics, cytology,
histology, and molecular biology.
Without these specialised fields of science, there would be no
medicine. Without medicine, there would
be no healthcare.
The
medical research occupation, an occupation necessary to facilitate growth and
advancement in healthcare, is largely made up of scientists with qualifications
and expertise in the biomedical, or laboratory medicine fields. Almost every
major health initiative in Australia in the last four decades has been science,
or medical researched based. The National Health and Medical Research Council
(NH&MRC) and their work, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), mass
immunisation programs, the establishment of women’s health centres, breast
cancer screening centres, men’s health services, and others, are just some of
the initiatives which have played a decisive role in the health of Australia as
a nation.
The
government is the major provider of healthcare services to the public, but
without a basic understanding or respect for science (which emanates into
medicine and healthcare) whether it will be able to provide healthcare services
which accurately fill the needs the Australian public has remains to be seen.
When
you abolish things like the carbon tax and turn the Ministry for Environment
into an international laughing stock, you risk the associated determinants of
health (specifically social and natural environments as determinants of health)
negatively impacting the population.
When
you fail to take the threat of climate change seriously, you risk affecting
industries such as the agricultural industry when the consequences of your lack
of action begin to take place. The vast
majority of people in these industries already experience limited access to
healthcare services, and studies have shown that the previous decline in areas such
as agriculture has a direct effect on those working in the industry. Men living in remote or rural areas in the
agricultural sector already have a higher rate of psychological problems, and
poorer health in general compared with those in regional and metropolitan
areas. This will only be exacerbated by
ignorant inaction on climate change.
When
you cut jobs from the science sector, you not only risk a lack of scientific
progress, you adversely affect those who have lost their jobs. A macro-theoretical framework of employment
relations and health inequalities shows that power relations, such as political
parties, influence social policies which then influence health systems and the
end result is health inequalities.
When
you attempt to mute the voice of Australian scientists, or allow your own
political agendas and beliefs to stand in the way of scientific progress, you
prevent the advancement of the nation as a whole, as well as the health of its
people.
Abbott
has made it crystal clear that he has no use for science, and justifies his
dismissal of it by forming alliances with a minority of conservatives who share
his views, however underqualified and unintelligent those views may be. And
Australia will suffer for it. Not only have
his actions doomed the future of scientific progression in Australia, they will
adversely affect the progression of medicine, which will have a detrimental
effect on our health as a nation.
Perhaps
we should take a page out of Abbott’s book and start praying it all works out,
and that he ceases in his determination to halt or abolish anything science
related. Because short of that, there
isn’t much else we can do these days.
*originally published, by me, on rebeccamillarblog.com
