[AstralTraveller (David)]

Well, someone is going to mention the budget, then some troll will flame the thread and then the mods will have to shut it down. But before that happens perhaps us scientific type might be interested in the Australian Academy of Sciences' response to the budget (attached).

One nasty little surprise is the introduction of tuition fees for post-grads. These people have typically worked bl**dy hard for 4+ years on not-enough money and the financial strain is already showing when they start. Presenting them with a 'get a job or get more debt' option is not really bright when you remember that they are the engine room of Australia's research. The people in the labs with the gloves on are mostly (at least in the university sector) PhD candidates along with a few post-docs and only very few academics. While it's true that the students hope to get a good job when qualified, and so some would say they should be charged, if you were to pay wages for the work they do the cost would be at least 4 times greater. Hopefully it will be 'only' an increase in their HECS debt and not 'up front'. Never-the less it sends a poor message about the countries priorities. It also makes it harder for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to rise to the top and so contributes to the stratification of society.

Cheers, and let's keep it civil.