No Politics but....

[xelasnave]

With an election in the wind I wonder who is in charge of going to the various parties and asking for more money for astronomy stuff?

Australia seems to have a high participation in many projects but is anything going unattended because of political blindness?

I guess the question is best put..who in Australia drives the process and are they happy with the funds set aside for Australian Astronomy.

AND given the rules I will understand if this gets closed ..it is just a thought not leading to something more sinister...but I must say I have never thought about how research for stuff gets off the ground.

alex

[casstony]

I imagine an election would have little impact on funding for astronomy as there are not enough votes involved. Perhaps we could learn from the politicians and scare the public into supporting funding for astronomy.

[Dujon]

I suspect, Alex, that we as a country more than pull our weight in the field of astronomic endeavours. When you look at the facilities we have and have had over the years it's a fair contribution (in my opinion). Whilst not all projects have been funded by the Australian government of the day there most certainly has been a significant involvement.

I'm going to miss a few here, but think of, for instance:

Mt Stromlo
Tidbinbilla
Mills Cross
Siding Spring
Parkes

Add to that the cooperative efforts of various universities with other countries' astronomers and the various governments involvement with funding for overseas observatories (remember that time sharing costs money) and that the universities receive significant amounts of government funding and I reckon we are entitled to hold up our head as an equal in the international community.

Whilst I'd love to see many more dollars sunk into astronomical and cosmological research I do realise that, as a country of little more than 21 million souls spread over significant distances, we have a small and finite ability to do so. Don't forget too that there are many branches of scientific research each of which no doubt thinks as we do.

Cheers, mate.