Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
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President's Report
Fay Gale
Reconciliation and the Academy
This Newsletter discusses a most important issue facing all Australians, namely the rights of our indigenous people. Contributions from different perspectives, from non-indigenous researchers and high-achieving indigenous people, offer a range of ideas, opinions and information at a crucial time in Australia's history, when the past treatment of indigenous people is being brought very much into the political limelight, bringing with it considerable reaction.
The Symposium associated with the Annual General Meeting this year is entitled 'Reconciliation and the Academy: Inventing the Future'. It hope to focus on the responsibility of academies in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to pursue our obligations in research and teaching. At that time, we will be focusing especially on native title.
No Australian can be unaware of the controversial nature of the moral and intellectual dilemma now facing us. This Academy has never been afraid to speak out in its areas of expertise on difficult social and economic issues. Nor has it refrained from seeking advice or information from those working at the cutting edge of debate through its workshops and the pages of this Newsletter. I hope this edition, devoted almost entirely to indigenous issues, will stimulate Fellows to take a greater intellectual lead in this debate.
Naturally, the Academy is also busy with many other issues. This is the Academy of Fellows able to advise the Minister of Education on a whole range of matters related to higher education. Recently we have, as a member of the National Academies Forum, responded to the final report of the West Committee.
In our response we have identified a number of concerns. We have said that 'The scholarly function of the universities as living repositories of knowledge and wisdom, as critics and irritants to accepted norms and as places where the human spirit can soar, must be sustained'.
Our major concerns lie in the weakness of the West Report in relation to research, research policy and research training. There is a real danger that increasing reliance on student fees and the possibility of student entitlements or vouchers will place in jeopardy longterm research projects, especially those whose primary objective is the advancement of knowledge without any immediate or evident commercial gain.
Research is essential to scholarship and teaching excellence, yet the Commonwealth Government has already foreshadowed that funding for research infrastructure through the Block Grant and Equipment and Facilities Support will decline from $126.3 million in 1998 to $61.7 million in 2000.
The significance of the ARC to social science research is immeasurable. We are concerned that its budget will be reduced after 1998-99. The interim report of the Penington Review of the ARC is timely. It raises issues that need to be addressed, particularly in relation to research policy, the management of research programs and the support of excellence in postgraduate training. The crucial issue of funding is to be further considered by the ARC and the Review.
We live in a time of continual reviews but because so many have a substantial bearing upon the teaching and research in the social sciences, our vigilance in participating in these reviews must continue.
Fay Gale
1998
Last modified: 2 November 2009.