Has resilience displaced innovation as the organising idea in Australia’s science, technology and innovation policy? Guest writer Rajesh Gopalakrishnan Nair suggests the proposed Resilience and Science Council marks this policy turn. In this extended essay, Rajesh traces the resilience narrative from Federation to the present and argues that the neoclassical reading of resilience, a bounce back to equilibrium, may cost Australia the innovation policy that Ambitious Australia

The SERD report's proposed National Innovation Council cannot direct Ministers across thirteen portfolios. Section 64 of the Constitution vests that authority in individual Ministers. This Insight proposes an alternative: a Cabinet-level coordination mechanism paired with a statutory Innovation Commission for independent research on innovation and industry economics, complementing the Productivity Commission's efficiency analysis and IISA's continuing R&D Tax Incentive admini

The Strategic Examination of Research and Development, released 17 March 2026, is the latest review diagnosing Australia's innovation system and proposing reform. The panel's 20 recommendations are analytically sound and deliberately integrated. But the real test is implementation. Systemic reform must navigate sequential budgets, entrenched institutional resistance, and competing fiscal priorities, including defence, health, and cost-of-living measures.