Beware the Budget black-hole burger
Scientists, researchers and those across the science sector can be forgiven for engaging in synchronised expressions of mock-surprise and a slow, collective eyeroll after Thursday's Budget announcements.
Despite Kiwi science often being pontificated by the government as a shimmering, gold-brick path ahead into a brighter, wealthier future, predictably there was little or no extra Budget support for those whom ministers love to talk up and go all weak at the knees over.
It's actually quite a bravura performance from the coalition in how to talk the talk but not walk the walk, in how to genuinely appear so enthusiastic about the sector, on the one hand, yet on the other do just about everything possible to stymie its future and the future of its workforce.
A masterclass in that uninformed and unwilling-to-be-advised approach to research and science was given by former science, innovation and technology minister Judith Collins during her brief but unforgettable few months in the spotlight, when she ripped the humanities and social sciences from the heart of the Marsden Fund.
Her successor, Dr Shane Reti, has kept fairly quiet after the Marsden shemozzle, although he did recently say the government had officially abandoned any hopes of lifting Aotearoa's creaking research and development spending to even a derisory 2% of gross domestic product in the next 10 years.
Our current spending on R&D is 1.54%, half that of the Scandinavian nations we often like to compare ourselves with.
Even though the government has scrapped the 2% target, it has recently been chuntering that that doesn't mean any less should be spent on research, as it fearlessly embarks on a one-step forward, two-steps back, expedition to the emerald city, where a truly science and innovation-focused economy lives.
After the lack of any significant funding for science endeavours in the Budget, it seems like, if anyone is in need of going back to school to learn what science is, it is the members of this government.
Their favoured image of a laboratory with an endless trail of dollar notes pumping out of it on a conveyer belt and dropping into a box labelled 'The Crown's — mitts off' is one someone really should take them to task over.
Looking at science in this Budget, it is hard to see where any significant disbursements will be made. What is even more alarming is that this comes as major science reforms are under way, which will result in the seven Crown research institutes being resurrected as three new Public Research Organisations.
Where oh where is the extra money which the government's science system advisory group, headed by former prime minister's chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, pleaded was desperately needed for the country to reset its research sector?
A paltry $20 million has been set aside across two years to help CRIs transition to PROs, but even this appears to have been existing money reallocated from research funding.
On top of that, Niwa will be given $5m to buy the shares of MetService as the 'merger' between the two proceeds. For an organisation the size of Niwa and with pockets to match, that amount would be a drop in the bucket for the agency to find itself. Both will join forces with GNS Science to form a much larger natural hazards PRO.
Scientists and commentators are calling out the government on its feeble support for science and research. Te Pûnaha Matatini researchers describe it as a 'one-eyed focus on economic growth driven by science advances in science, technology and innovation, with limited investment in the people and fundamental research that underpins it all'.
University of Otago deputy vice-chancellor, research and enterprise, Prof Richard Blaikie, describes it as 'another year of treading water'. He says future generations will not thank us for focusing on the 'what we can afford' rather than the 'must-haves' when it comes to research to improve wellbeing.
New Zealand Association of Scientists co-president Dr Troy Baisden is even more alarmed: 'Following last year's nothing-burger budget for science, this year edges toward a black-hole burger. Many areas of research may now be heading across a threshold where there's no escape.'
What is clear is Kiwi science needs leadership and it needs funding. Its current trajectory is downhill all the way.
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To infinity and beyond with a possum and sweet chilli sauce
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Leaving Waitaki MP Miles Anderson — no doubt well aware that many residents in Geraldine would like their town to instead be in the Rangitata electorate — to praise the fine products of Barker's of Geraldine. "I spoke this morning to the team at Barker's of Geraldine — and those of you who have had the opportunity to try some of their goods, I highly recommend them." "Great little place. Sweet chilli sauce," Otaki MP Tim Costley chimed in, a sentiment echoed from across the House. "They supply jams, preserves, and pickles to supermarkets across the country," Mr Anderson added, in his best infomercial manner. There was actually a point to all this spruiking: Mr Anderson wanted to use his time to boast about Investment Boost, the Budget's central policy for business growth. Enabling firms to immediately write off some of the cost of new equipment was a boon for an expanding business like Barker's, he said ... and that was not all for the great electorate of Waitaki. "Other local businesses are also having an increase in asset investment," Mr Anderson said. "Te Pari Industries tell me that they have seen an increase in interest for their products, and that farmers are making decisions much more quickly with both sheep and dairy systems. Drummond & Etheridge in Oamaru, local farm machinery retailers, saw an immediate increase in sales and a significant increase in buyer inquiry." And with a shout out to Five Forks School — pupils from which had visited the House the previous day and been acknowledged from the chamber — that was it for the Budget debate for another year. Half time, change sides Act New Zealand Southland list MP Todd Stephenson is poised to become the most recognisable backbencher in the country following the grand rearrangement of the House this week. With the coalition swapping deputy prime ministers, New Zealand First's MPs have moved to where Act once sat, and vice versa. 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