The executive vote thwarted a plan by Ian Macfarlane and the Nationals to get an extra cabinet spot by boosting the minor party’s numbers within the Coalition.
The furore caused by Ian Macfarlane’s defection to the National Party threatens to take oxygen from Malcolm Turnbull’s innovation statement.
Lukas Coch/AAP
As chance would have it Malcolm Turnbull was to have been at a sod turning for a big Toowoomba bypass project on Monday, in Ian Macfarlane’s Groom electorate.
Former industry minister Ian Macfarlane had been in discussions with Nationals leader Warren Truss since the Turnbull reshuffle.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Former industry ministry Ian Macfarlane is set to defect to the Nationals, in a move that party sources say would entitle the junior Coalition partner to an extra frontbench spot.
Maurice Newman, chairman of the Prime Minister’s business advisory council, has written that climate change is a United Nations power grab.
AAP/Julian Smith
As the Abbott government prepares Australia’s post-2020 emissions targets for this year’s Paris conference, the chairman of the Prime Minister’s business advisory council has make an extraordinary intervention in the climate debate.
Australia has a long history of world class science, but a national science strategy will help boost engagement with industry.
Steve Dorman/Flickr
The government’s announcement of a national science strategy is good for Australia, particularly for promoting engagement between science and industry.
Research infrastructure, such as the H-1NF at the Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility, enables our world leading science.
Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility
Australia needs to take a longer term view of research infrastructure funding in order to prevent it from becoming politicised.
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, seen here with the Anglo Australian Telescope at Sidings Springs, is known to have a deep interest in science. So what should expect now the word science is added to his ministerial title?
AAP/Alan Porritt
“What’s in a name?” was essentially the Australian government’s response when concerns were first expressed about dropping “Science” from the ministerial portfolio titles back in 2013. That same response…
Protesters say the government’s planned cuts to the Renewable Energy Target will endanger Australian jobs in the sector.
AAP Image/NewZulu/Josephine Lim
Labor has walked away from negotiations with the government over changes to the Renewable Energy Target, saying the proposed cuts of almost 40% are too deep. Industry minister Ian Macfarlane says he is…
The government knows that solar panel subsidies are very popular with voters.
zstock/Shutterstock
Federal industry minister Ian Macfarlane has finally revealed his opening gambit on negotiations on the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET). He and environment minister Greg Hunt have pledged to…
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane offered Labor a compromise deal on the Renewable Energy Target.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The opposition has rejected the government’s opening negotiating position for changing the renewable energy target – but said it wants to keep talking. The government proposed the target be changed to…
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and Prime Minister Tony Abbott are looking to put science at the centre of industry policy.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The federal government will fund industry growth centres in five sectors that will encourage better use by business of Australian research, as part of a $400 million innovation and competitiveness policy…
Panellists with Ian Chubb and MC Leigh Dayton at the Smart Science symposium.
The Conversation
Chief Scientist Ian Chubb today called on the federal government to “bring coherence” to research and innovation, otherwise the nation risks being left behind in the fields of science, technology, engineering…
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has floated the idea that government grants be linked to the number of patents a university registers, rather than the papers it gets published. The suggestion comes at…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane have drawn a line in the sand on industry assistance…or have they?
Alan Porritt/AAP
Announcing the decision to refuse assistance to SPC Ardmona, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said: “I think it is a clear delineation of where this government believes we need to go with industry policy…
Brisbane’s annual City of Lights show, which is sponsored by an oil and gas company.
Flickr/Wei Lun Koh (some rights reserved)
From flicking on a light to travelling around town, our lives are utterly dependent on energy. That’s why it’s so surprising that Australia has been so bad at thinking about our country’s future energy…