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Name of Submitter: Dr Bill Shaw, AGC
Draft 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
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Introduction
The Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) is pleased to have the opportunity to provide a
further submission to you regarding the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. As
noted in our submission dated 9 September 2016 the AGC has eight major Australian
geoscientific organisations as its Members. These organisations collectively represent most
of Australia’s geoscientists, around 8,000 individuals. As the peak body for Geoscience in
Australia we represent industry, government and academic professionals in the fields of
geology, geophysics, geochemistry, minerals, petroleum, hydrogeology, environmental and
all other aspects of Geoscience.
The UNCOVER Initiative
We are pleased that you have noted the importance of the UNCOVER program on page 49.
This program is currently unfunded yet it is making significant progress in identifying
collaborative research areas and bringing together people from industry, academia and
government (Commonwealth and State) all working towards a common goal. A recent
meeting in Perth was attended by over 80 delegates. These geoscientists ratified the
progress in Stage 2 of the roadmap for UNCOVER and charged the Executive with
establishing an organisational framework to advance this program.
We consider that the potential significance of the UNCOVER Initiative to the Australian
economy warrants more recognition in the NRI Roadmap and will be pleased to provide you
with further background if required.
AuScope
We are also pleased to see AuScope supported on Pages 45 and 49. We support the
statement in Table 8 reiterated below as the second bullet point.
Environmental Science, Earth Science and Geoscience
The AGC is of the view that a great opportunity is being lost unless there is clarity about the
importance of geology and other components of Geoscience as being fundamental
contributors to Earth Science, which in turn is without doubt the most important
component of Environmental Science.
In the context of STEM studies the importance of Geoscience is generally poorly appreciated
by the community compared to Physics, Chemistry and Biology. However almost everything
we use to build our society has a mineral component and this will continue. As an example,
the importance of lithium and graphite to the new ‘green energy’ era, which will more and
more depend on batteries, was totally unexpected and is still largely unknown. Similarly the
need for Rare Earths will continue to expand and we should be putting more effort into
them. The use of zircons and other techniques for more precise age dating and correlation is
another example. No doubt there are other technological breakthroughs coming that will
benefit our society and will require specialist knowledge of the earth’s formation,
components and resources. A commitment to such knowledge is needed to counteract the
boom-bust cyclicity that has badly impacted the Australian economy, repeatedly, most
notably over the last four years.
We reiterate the following points made in our Submission as points IV and V:
The ability of Australian researchers to carry out work on the big science questions
(e.g. Where do we come from? What are the natural hazards and risks? How can we
continue sustainably?) is dependent on our understanding of complex earth systems.
Much of this knowledge is fundamentally governed by the use of scientific
methodology and principles developed in Geoscience.
Due to the nature of the planet we live on and the necessity to understand the
impact of Geoscience beyond both mainland Australia and beneath our extensive
marine region, we consider that Geoscience research must encompass significant
international collaboration. Obviously this can provide societal benefits for us all,
well beyond the specific impacts of the research programmes.
We note that disappointingly, there is no mention of Geology or Geoscience in the NRI
Roadmap (despite three mentions of Geoscience Australia). We believe that this should be
addressed.
Specific Recommendations
1. We recommend on page 49 within Table 8 that the following additional point be noted:
Inward focused Earth monitoring and exploration:

Support the UNCOVER initiative by providing resources to facilitate and
concessions to motivate the engagement of industry, academia and government
in locating and developing the next generation of mines under cover.

Explore establishing next generation Earth monitoring and potential development
of inward looking telescopes.

Enhance capability in AuScope to: include new Earth monitoring data; utilise
new remotely sensed data and to visualise the findings.
2. We recommend that the importance of Geoscience and its relationship to the
wider field of Earth Science be constructively recognised in the National Research
Infrastructure Roadmap to provide a beachhead for making Australia the world-leader
in research in this field. The NRI Roadmap has done an excellent job of noting the need
for a ‘geological telescope’ (page 49) but without elaborating on this concept this
important point is lost amongst discussions of astronomical telescopes (23 mentions)
and by embedding it within Section 2.6 (Environmental Systems).
We will be pleased to elaborate further on our support as required, during the course of
your deliberations.
Dr Bill Shaw
President,
Australian Geoscience Council
(809 words)