Science Meets Parliament provides an opportunity for STEM experts to meet directly with policymakers.
Engineers Australia National President and Board Chair Dr Raj Aseervatham was invited to take part in a panel discussion, Leading with science: Elevating STEM for economic growth.
Dr Aseervatham joined Professor Sharath Sriram current President of Science and Technology Australia, Professor Rueben Bolt Deputy VC First Nations Leadership at Charles Darwin University and Jas Chambers President-elect President of Science and Technology Australia.
Together they discussed the opportunities for Australian science and engineering and why it is time to build our sovereign capability.
Dr Aseervatham said Australia may only have 27 million people, but we have a strong presence in global GDP.
“The scale of engineering expertise and projects translates to economic and social impact, and we need bigger investment in engineers to scale up the growth of our economy and standards of living for our communities,” he said.
“Australia has good governance with a strong monetary system; this is attractive for research and for investment in technology products. We need to use that position to realise the benefits that will come from investment in research.”
When asked about the large pool of underemployed overseas trained engineers and the lack of STEM teaching, Dr Aseervatham said a whole of system solution is required.
He said industry, government and education all need to work together.
“There are 500,000 engineers in Australia and 130,000 with engineering qualifications not working in the profession. This is a productivity problem for technology and our economy.”
“We need to start at the beginning, getting children interested in STEM during early schooling and studying STEM through matriculation. Then when they begin working, we need to ensure roles are attractive to keep our engineers within the profession,” Dr Aseervatham said.
Later in the day, Minister for Industry and Science Hon Ed Husic presented a keynote speech about the role that scientists and researchers must play in new supply chains.
He said Australia is capable of being a nation of scientific discovery, as much as it is a nation of athletes and actors.
"We consistently are among the top performers for research at our universities and we are at the bottom of the class in getting that research into the economy."
Going forward he reiterated the importance of being able to work with industry to come up with new ways of getting things done, so that Australia doesn't rely on one or two countries for essential goods.
Engineers Australia is looking for member insights for our submission on the Federal Government’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development. If you would like to contribute, email your expression of interest to [email protected] or fill out our form through EA Xchange.