Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (16:37): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises that this year marks 75 years of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO);

2. Acknowledges the many notable and world-leading scientific achievements of the CSIRO and its researchers over its decades of operation;

3. Affirms the fundamental importance of scientific research and innovation to promoting human health and wellbeing, a successful society, and a prosperous economy; and

4. Commends the crucial role played by the CSIRO in our nation's historic, contemporary and future contributions to scientific and technological advancement.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is Australia's national agency responsible for scientific research. It is also one of the largest research organisations in the world. It works across a diverse range of scientific fields and it has been responsible for some amazing world-leading scientific breakthroughs and innovations over its years of operation.

This year, 2024, marks the 75^th anniversary of the CSIRO as we know it today, but federally funded scientific research in Australia began in 1916 through the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, and, in 1926, the research effort was reinvigorated by the establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This predecessor to today's CSIRO grew rapidly and achieved significant early success. In fact, by the end of its first full year of operations in 1927, the CSIR had 53 staff located across all six Australian states.

The outbreak of World War II saw the CSIR conducting research to assist the Australian Defence Force in areas such as radar. After the war, CSI Research expanded to include many new areas, especially across Australia's most important sectors of industry. In 1949, CSIR ceased all defence work for the military and was renamed CSIRO. It is this anniversary, the advent of the CSIRO as we now know it, that my motion seeks to recognise and celebrate today.

The modern CSIRO works with industry, government, and the research sector to turn science into solutions, not just for the benefit of our community but for communities and people around the world. Their work addresses some of Australia's greatest challenges, including responding to climate change and the risks of biodiversity collapse, ensuring water and food security, and maintaining human health and wellbeing. The CSIRO recognises that these are complex and interdependent challenges, requiring new thinking and strong collaboration from across public institutions, industry, the research sector, civil society and the community.

The CSIRO does not just think about science in an abstract way. It focuses on what it calls 'impact science', putting its research and its innovations to work in our lives. I would like to outline just some of the developments by the CSIRO over the decades that have made life easier and helped to drive change for people within our nation and around the world.

The CSIRO invented fast Wireless LAN technology, which is now known as wi-fi. The invention of this technology has earned the CSIRO more than $430 million in royalties and has led to a fundamental transformation in the way we connect with one another and share information. The CSIRO developed the first commercially successful polymer banknote, the technology for which is now used for more than 30 denominations around the world. NASA's spacecraft tracking facilities are located in Australia and run by the CSIRO. The first effective influenza treatment, Relenza, was invented by the CSIRO in 1987. They also launched the Equivac Hendra virus vaccine for horses in November 2012.

A researcher called Doug Waterhouse, who carried out pioneering studies on the sheep blowfly, turned his attention during World War II to ways of protecting allied troops from the mosquitoes responsible for malarial transmission. By 1943, his repellent was widely deployed for troops in the Pacific, and Doug was considered a hero, but it took the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1963 for the repellent to become a household name.

At a garden party held at Government House in Canberra, there was a bit of a fly problem, which bothered the Queen. The next day, however, was a different story when Government House staff made sure the Queen was liberally sprayed with Doug Waterhouse's repellent before she headed off for a game of golf. Word about the CSIRO's new fly repellent spread, and a few days later Mortein called Doug Waterhouse for his formula, which he passed on freely, as was CSIRO's policy at the time. So next time you reach for a can of Aerogard, you can thank Doug Waterhouse and the CSIRO.

Another piece of CSIRO work that went quietly global is this: in the 1960s, two CSIRO researchers, Isabel Bear and Richard Grenfell Thomas, who was a South Australian mineralogist and a biochemist, and the son of a pastoralist from Kapunda, came up with the word that is now used across dozens of languages to describe the unique smell that can often be noticed just as rain begins to fall on dry soil.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Petrichor.

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN: The word 'petrichor', as the scientist the Hon. Ian Hunter has just alluded to, comes from the Greek word 'petra', meaning rock, and 'ichor', which in Greek mythology refers to the ethereal fluid that flows through the veins of the Gods. There is plenty of fascinating science behind the phenomenon itself, but I will not go into it today. In addition to its world-changing science, being responsible for the creation of a neologism that is now so widely used across the world's languages is a charming claim to fame for the CSIRO and for South Australia.

The CSIRO has given us plenty of other fascinating and world-leading innovations, like extended wear contact lenses, broccoli powder—of which two tablespoons is nutritionally equivalent to one serve of vegetables—and biological agents for the control of wild rabbit populations. A number of the CSIRO's most notable achievements are globally known innovations that many, perhaps even some who are listening to my remarks today, may not have known to be the work of the CSIRO.

I have always been a bit of a science nerd, particularly across fields related to technology, but in moving this motion I look not to my own interest in the sciences as disciplines of thought, but to Australia's national interest, and the way in which the work of the CSIRO has served and advanced it through the decades.

Scientific innovation underpins our modern way of life. Without good science and the brilliant minds who drive it, we will not be able to continue to live well into the future and we will not be able to meet and conquer its challenges. Science has always been important to reaching good and favourable outcomes for our community of modern Australia.

During the Abbott government—which, by the way, was the first time since 1931 that there has been no minister of science—$110 million was cut from the CSIRO budget in 2014. Lest anyone think I am engaging in partisan sledging, I note that the Morrison government invested heavily in the CSIRO during the COVID pandemic, with a $222 million upgrade to the CSIRO's containment facility and a further $66 million for future pandemic planning and research to develop a vaccine and treatments for COVID-19.

The fact is, good science is so crucially important to our future that government's recognition of its role in underpinning our success as a nation must transcend politics. As the challenges we face as a community and as a human race become increasingly complex, the role of science in positioning us for future prosperity and wellbeing has significantly expanded. Our state, our nation and our world rely on scientific advancement and innovation as much today as we ever have, if not more. The CSIRO has a vital role to play in realising the future that humanity deserves.

I call upon members to support this motion of recognition for the proud institution whose work has been important to our nation since the institution's inception. I also urge all members to join me in recognising what we stand to gain by pursuing world-changing innovations and what we stand to lose by failing to do so. To all who work at and with the CSIRO, I say thank you. May the next 75 years bring even greater heights of achievement.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood.