Barnett under fire over science policy vacuum
Colin Barnett's record as "the science Premier" is under attack amid uncertain futures for three key scientific institutions and a policy vacuum two years after he took on the portfolio.
Perth Observatory in Bickley, Bentley's ChemCentre WA and Gingin's Gravity Discovery Centre are all facing either government funding cuts, redundancies or restructuring as the Premier struggles to match rhetoric with reality.
Mr Barnett has also missed a self-imposed deadline last year to release an overarching science policy "statement".
A review of ChemCentre, completed in September 2013 but not tabled until last month, described an "urgent need to address funding" of the State's in-house chemical and forensic testing laboratory to ensure its "immediate survival and future".
Gravity Discovery Centre, which since 2003 has introduced thousands of WA schoolchildren to science, will not be funded beyond this financial year.
It is a casualty of a 37 per cent drop in Office of Science grants, from $25.7 million in 2013-14 to $16.3 budgeted in 2017-18.
Founder and 2007 WA scientist of the year David Blair said it would be disappointing to lose funding, but he was confident the centre would survive with private sector investment, volunteers and Federal grants.
"I think it's completely short-sighted of our Government to be failing to invest in science and science education because all of these things lead to innovation," Professor Blair said.
Perth Observatory volunteer Geoff Chandler said all six full-time positions had been axed after its astronomical officer and technical manager recently followed two astronomers who took voluntary redundancies in 2013.
A team of 25 to 30 volunteers would run it.
"What really got me angry was that it was done secretly and quietly," he said.
Shadow science minister Roger Cook said Mr Barnett's stewardship of science had gone from bad to worse since Scitech rebuffed his election promise to move to Burswood in favour of a CBD location.
Mr Barnett said his adoption of the portfolio reflected a focus on capitalising on WA's natural advantages to broaden the economy.
"A WA science statement will be released in April," he said.
