Protect medical research in the May budget!

Please print out the petition from the Discoveries Need Dollars website and get as many signatures as you can!

Then mail the petition with signatures to arrive no later than Friday 29 April to:

Alice Robinson
c/o Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1G Royal Parade
Parkville
VIC 3052

The Honourable Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt will table the petition in parliament.

Thanks,
James

James W.
I'm all for medical research. What I don't agree with is the high pays some of these researchers receive without ever making any break-throughs. How much does the average medical researcher get paid & what percentage is the pay for the researchers in the overall budget ?

How much do ya reckon years at Uni is worth is regards to pay, individual? Because they 'haven't' - another story - found the cure to cancer, individual, should they stop being paid till they do?

StG,
No-one's saying they shouldn't get paid till they do find solutions. I wish people would stop making such stupid replies. What I am saying & have done so for a very many years is, pay them a wage & when they do make a discovery then reward them via commission or royalty.
I believe if that were the way research was done then far more useful discoveries would result. To get handsome pay for just being in a position in research & dawdling along 8 hours a day & hopefully, one day, discover something, is an inefficient system. Look at corporate system. No result no reward. Only Government agencies use systems of inefficiency. If anyone wants my tax dollar than produce something useful for it because at the end of it all I still have to pay for medication anyway.

Stupid? Nice.

You don't reckon the labs vying for funding don't patent discoveries? What the grants do IS provide them with an income until they 'prove their worth' and make a profit. Tax on profits repays you your precious percentage of your pay to the government. Most labs almost 'cage fight' for funding.

Who are 'you' - Caveat: not meaning you, directly. Meaning 'you', that doesn't see the big picture - to decide what research might have long term benefit for commercial uses WAY down the track? What inventions that have had a MASSIVE impact on our society that were 'stupid' and 'wasteful' at their inception?

Where would you like Doctors of Science to learn their craft if not for research labs?

Individual,

Most scientists work very hard for LESS salary than the average Australian - PhD students are typically on a scholarship of $20,000 per annum for 3-4 years! Scientists also have less long-term job security due to short-term funding cycles.

Please forgive the sloppiness of this rushed back-of-the envelope calculation. But Australia has a population of 22 million, so to at least maintain the NHMRC budget of approximately $700 million, we are only asking for around $40 from each tax payer. This will be invested in the development of new treatments to save lives.

Medical research is a public good, like defense. Of course we don't know when the next amazing medical breakthrough will arrive, just as we don't know if/when Australia will come under attack from a another country. If the latter happens, I'll be glad that some of my tax dollars are being spent on defense. How many of your tax dollars do you think should be spent on medical research?

Cheers,
James