May 14, 2015
A commitment to increase spending on research and development by the Federal Opposition is welcomed but must be backed up by detail says Australia’s leading research universities.
The Group of Eight also welcomed Opposition plans to
- boost the skills of 25,000 current primary and secondary teachers
- train 25,000 new teachers who are science and technology graduates
- write off the HECS debt of 100,000 science technology, engineering and maths students.
- and encourage more women to study, teach and work in these fields.
“The Labor leader talks of universities, industry, the people and the Parliament ‘aspiring to devote 3 per cent of our GDP to research and development by the end of the next decade.”
“This is a welcome statement however ‘aspiration’ will not get us there alone,” says Go8 Chief Executive, Vicki Thomson.
“Instead we need substance to support such aspiration and to be confident that the commitment can actually be realised.”
“The Group of Eight accepts that this is the early stages of policy development for the next election, and we look forward to further detail on how the Opposition plans to fund these worthwhile commitments. We also hope that the Opposition will consider our views as it further develops its policy outline.”
Contact: Vicki Thomson, Group of Eight Chief Executive on +61 438 047 155
