CANBERRA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists are calling on the government to urgently invest in supercomputing and boost science and mathematics education, part of its Pre-Budget Submission on Tuesday.
Australia urgently needs to invest 200 million Australian dollars (127.15 million U.S. dollars) a year over the next decade to bring the country's supercomputing up-to-date, as the current two national supercomputers cannot meet the growing demands of science, defense, industry and society, according to the Australian Academy of Science (AAS)'s 2025-2026 Pre-Budget Submission.
"Australia is facing increasing challenges that demand strategic investment in science to secure supply chains, strengthen defense and cybersecurity, accelerate energy transition, adopt new technologies and support our health and wellbeing," the submission said.
The AAS also proposes to implement the education plan of Teaching Towards 2030 that builds on a 30-year track record of delivering evidence-based professional learning to science and mathematics teachers from Foundation to Year 10, it said, adding that investment can be scaled starting at 13 million Australian dollars (8.27 million U.S. dollars) over four years.
It called on the government to sponsor participation in the oceans collaborative research action in 2025, to lead and shape global research efforts on challenges presented by climate and environmental change. ■
