Abstract
The Australian Governments in March repealed the Science and Industry Research Act of the Bruce Page Government of 1926, replacing it and its subsequent minor amendments by a single Act modifying several of the main features of the original legislation. From the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which has functioned for twentythree years, all former powers and functions have been taken away, and it becomes for the future merely advisory. A new body has been set up under the title Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. It consists of an Executive of five members and of the officers comprising the staff. The Executive is the governing body. Its members will be appointed by the Governor-General, and at least three of them are to possess scientific qualifications. The chairman and two others will devote the whole of their time to the duties of office. Whereas the former Council carried sole responsibility for the scientific programme placed before the Government, provision is now made for political initiation of work, it being the duty of the Organisation to exercise its powers and functions in relation to any matter referred to it by its minister. In the important matter of staff, while the Executive may appoint such officers and employ such temporary or casual employees as it thinks necessary for the purposes of the Act, it is in each case subject to the specific direction that "the selection of persons . . . shall be made in accordance with such requirements as the Public Service Board determines". So, too, terms and conditions are in all cases "subject to the approval of the Public Service Board". Also, the maximum number of officers and employees whose duties are primarily of an administrative or clerical nature is similarly subject to the Board's approval. Under the earlier Act, the Council and minister settled these matters, independently of the Public Service Board. A somewhat cryptic clause towards the end of the Act runs: "A member of the Executive, a member of the Advisory Council, a member of a State Committee, an officer or an employee shall not, except in the course of his duty as such a member, officer or employee or with the approval of the Executive, disclose any information concerning the work of the Organisation or the contents of any document in the possession of the Organisation. Penalty: Imprisonment for two years."The opportunity has been taken also to effect certain minor changes which experience has shown to be desirable ; but it is difficult at this stage to predict just how the new legislation as a whole will affect established scientific activities. The sequel need not be unsatisfactory; but it is known that in some quarters the position is regarded with a measure of anxiety.
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia. Nature 163, 671–672 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163671d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163671d0