Australia slashes scientific research budget

http://theconversation.edu.au/mid-year-budget-slashes-499m-from-research-support-10248

Nearly half a billion dollars in finding will be cut from a program that pays for the overhead costs of scientific research in Australia over the next four years.  This will represent a slow in growth for the purpose of ensuring that continued funding to universities for research is sustainable.  This is a direct response to the abysmal global market.  This will undoubtedly lead to job losses in higher education and research, as well as potentially encouraging much of Australia's research talent to leave the country.

This decision seems both short-sighted and frightening to me.  The Australian government stated that it was performing these cuts in order to create a billion dollars of savings this year, yet I do not understand the logic of sitting on that extra money rather than investing it in the future.  Scientific progress can provide astronomical boosts in economic growth in many fields, including computer science and biotechnology.  The value of such progress cannot be underestimated, and Australia may send much of its research workforce packing to other countries.  The de-prioritization of scientific progress is not restricted to Australia, however.  It is on the rapid rise in the United States (see http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=antiscience-beliefs-jeopardize-us-democracy).  I fear that Australia's decision here may set a global pattern of cutting funding to research that might help us to make progress to get out of our economic mess.  How else can be deal with our energy crisis and climate change unless we invest in finding new technologies?

Andrew DuBois