We need to ensure the public are well equipped to make their own decisions based on an understanding of risk. We use education to encourage people to eat 3-4 servings of vegetables per day rather than enforcing it, while safety is ensured with legislated mandates like wearing seatbelts or banning indoor smoking. Yet vaccine mandates have been disputed, though you might die much faster from being infected by someone than passively breathing in their smoke at a restaurant.

It had been known for more than hundred years that increases in concentration were likely to warm the planet. So CSIRO commenced work on the modelling of the whole climate system. But in the 1980s it was realised that very few of our Australian colleagues, across a wide range of different disciplines, were either aware of the potential of global warming, or seriously considering, from their own perspectives, whether it was of any importance.

As we followed the evolving research on how COVID-19 spreads, the effectiveness of various prevention measures, and the development of vaccines, the Australian public became used to reading about research findings and seeing graphs and statistics tracking infection rates. This comes on the back of decades of sometimes confusing and misrepresented science regarding climate change. So how do Australians regard science?

“We are known internationally for our science. We must be known for using our science to protect our biodiversity.” Recognising the scarcity of public funding to drive recovery, the RSV is establishing a Natural Capital Financing Working Group to focus on the urgent need to stimulate private sector investments that protect, preserve and regenerate local biodiversity in the face of threats from climate change and habitat loss.

Associate Professor Duane Hamacher is at the intersection of Indigenous Knowledge and modern science. He came to Australia to complete a Masters in astrophysics and a PhD in Indigenous studies. At astrophysics conferences, he sometimes struggled to convince peers that Indigenous Knowledge was anything more than folklore. But Indigenous science is dynamic, adapting to changes in the land, seas and skies, built on careful observation over 65,000+ years.