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Name of Submitter: Dr Bill Shaw, AGC Draft 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap Submission Template Please provide your comments in this word document below, noting that the overall word count should not exceed 1,000 words and any content exceeding this amount may not be counted as part of your submission. If you would like your comments published, please ensure that your submission, including all pictures, diagrams or tables adheres to online accessibility requirements as stated on our Terms and Conditions page. When your comments are complete, save this document in two of the accepted file types and upload both documents to the Department submissions page in accordance with the instructions. 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)