A cracker of a speech

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard seems to be on a hiding to nothing lately, with the passing of the carbon tax through the House of Representatives a rare highlight.

So when I heard the speech she gave the other day for the Prime Minister's Science Prize, I was surprised it has had zero media coverage.

Because, in a year when the very integrity of science as seemed under attack courtesy of Tony Abbott's no-holds-barred pursuit of power no matter what the hypocrisy needed, Julia Gillard's speech was a cracker.

Prime Minister's Prize for Science winners, Dr David Solomon (left) and Professor Ezio Rizzardo (right) with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (credit: Prime Minister's Science Prizes/Irene Dowdy)

The audio is on the Radio National Science Show. And the 2011 winners were David Solomon and Ezio Rizzardo who have developed new techniques to allow the controlled production of polymers in the lab. 
Here are the best bits. Nah - here's the whole thing (with my highlighting of some key bits):

2011 is UNESCO's Year of Chemistry, so perhaps it's appropriate that our public debate this year has been dominated by a humble molecule comprising one carbon and two oxygen atoms. No one, simply no one can say that science doesn't matter in politics, not in 2011. This year the urgency of embarking on our clean energy future has brought science to the centre of our national debate, it's very centre, and that's as it should be.
Malcolm Turnbull warned against the war on science that has developed in many quarters. On this issue I stand with Malcolm and politicians of goodwill from all sides who know that science should never become mere collateral damage in a wider political and cultural battle. So the nation has relied on you, our scientists, to counter the non-science and the nonsense that has been so widely aired. Many scientists have done so bravely, very, very bravely, and I thank you for that.

It's a courage which I know warms the heart of my good friend and predecessor as member for Lawler, Barry Jones. Barry began talking about climate change in 1984, noting that the basic laws of science which explain global warming had been understood for over a century. This was old science and good science. We have long known that greenhouse gases are central factors in trapping and retaining heat in our atmosphere, and that as those greenhouse gases increased, so does the rate of global warming. From that simple truth comes an obligation to act.
We act for the future, because it is those who will live in the latter part of this century and beyond who will increasingly feel the effects of the greenhouse gases we emit now, people who are only children now or not even yet born. As Barry Jones has pointed out, posterity notoriously has no vote. We must act for them. Listening to the science, listening to the economics, and translating them into an achievable plan of action for a clean energy future to avoid the dangers Barry spoke about nearly 30 years ago. That's the true meaning of today's vote in the people's House.
We are going to turn words into deeds, scientific imperatives into Australian law. In short, we are going to get this thing done. And in getting it done I believe we will also achieve a renewal of our own capacity to act, reminding ourselves that the age of reform is not over, and learning anew that there is much we can do together in public life when we combine creativity with confidence, when we persist in the rightness of our cause. Creativity, confidence, persistence, these are necessary virtues, not just in the endeavour to act on climate change but necessary virtues in all our nation's scientific endeavours.
We do look to you, to science, to answer fundamental questions about our universe, so the Giant Magellan Telescope project and our trans-Tasman bid to host the Square Kilometre Array are setting the standard for international collaboration in astronomy. Yet, in doing all that, science is also building a richer, fairer, cleaner, safer Australia in the here and now. A richer Australia through the productivity dividend from scientific research, such as what we are seeing from Professor Ian Frazer's Gardasil and John O'Sullivan's wi-fi, which is predicted to earn upwards of $1 billion for the CSIRO. A fairer Australia and a fairer world, giving us the answers to questions behind problems like sustainable development and food and water security, matters high on the agenda of CHOGM in two weeks in Perth, just as they will be high on the agenda of the G20 in Cannes in November.
A safer Australia through advances as diverse as vaccines to protect us from new risks to biosecurity, and body armour which keeps our young people alive as they fight terrorism for us. Australians like to pretend to be pragmatic, and our scientists like to pretend to be matter-of-fact, but I believe our nation has a romantic heart. We cherish our heroes and we never forget our villains, so of course we always remember Ned Kelly and honour Betty Cuthbert. But science also takes its place in our great national romance, and so we also remember Hargrave and Farrer, Florey and Fenner, to which we add names like Doherty, Stanley, and now Schmidt as well. They represent and exemplify this great body of men and women, dedicated to the highest ends in life, who build a community of reason in which good public policy can thrive, who live to add to the sum of human knowledge, who prepare the future which we will come to inhabit one day.
In congratulating the recipients and nominees for the 2011 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science, I honour each of you here tonight and your colleagues at home and abroad. Never has your work been more important and never has your work being more valued. Thank you.