The National Science and Technology Council is responsible for providing advice to the Prime Minister and other Ministers on important science and technology issues facing Australia.

The council is Chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Minister for Science as deputy chair. Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, is the executive officer. The Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) serves as an ex officio member. The appointed scientific expert members of the council are:

• Professor Genevieve Bell AO
• Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger AC
• Associate Professor Jeremy Brownlie
• Professor Mahananda Dasgupta
• Professor Reuben Bolt
• Professor Mark Hutchinson

The council is the preeminent forum for providing scientific and technological advice for government policy and priorities.

Further detail about the council’s membership and operations can be found in the Terms of Reference.

Communiqués from the council meetings can be found here.

Previous science advice councils

To access the former Commonwealth Science Council Communiqué archive, click here.

To access the former Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council archive, click here.