Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary to hear Senator Kim Carr and how he could not contrast this government's performance with that of the previous government. He had to look back on and praise the conservative Howard government, celebrating it. For once in my life, I wholeheartedly agree that Prime Minister John Howard was an exemplary Prime Minister. He was the man who, with Peter Costello and the rest of the team, left Australia with zero debt.

But what I find startling is that the highlight of the tenure of the former minister for science was to send Twitter messages into outer space, waiting for some aliens to respond. That was a policy of the previous government. It was an extraordinary farce, but Senator Kim Carr as science minister championed it and is still waiting for some answers.

I would like to reflect on the current Chief Scientist, who said:

… over the years, really - and I'm not just focusing on the very last budget - but over the years—

so you could presume the last six or seven years—

… we've had short-term policies, we've had stop-start policies, we've had trimmings here and cuts there and all of those sorts of things…

That is what Senator Carr presided over as science minister. He is talking about the alleged failure of the Prime Minister to meet with the Chief Scientist thus far, but I would like to make this single point: when the former Chief Scientist, Penny Sackett, appeared before Senate estimates prior to her resignation, she was asked how many times the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met with her. The answer, of course, was zero—not once, nada, zilch. He did not bother to meet with the Chief Scientist once.

So you have the science minister sending Twitter messages into outer space and you have the former Prime Minister jetting around the world, whipping up obscure programs on the back of coasters with Senator Conroy, and they say that they were focused on doing the right thing by the country. It would be a joke if it were not so serious.

What is serious is the amount of money that this government is investing in science. There is $8.6 billion this year alone in science, research and innovation, but it is targeted. It is focused. It is not being squandered like so much of taxpayers' money was squandered under the previous administration. It is being spent in a methodical and important manner. We are investing about $5.8 billion over the next four years for science and research in the industry area alone. It is a substantial amount of money, particularly given the state of the finances that the Labor Party and those in opposition.

I remind the Australian people and the Senate that, when Labor came to power in 2007, there was zero debt for this country—no national debt. When it left power in 2013, there was nearly $200 billion worth of debt—$200 billion worth of spending that has been put on the taxpayers' credit card.