ANNUAL REPORT - Australian Academy of Science

• responses to major national consultations including the Cutler review of the Australian Innovation System,
Venturous Australia, the Bradley review of Australian Higher Education and the NHMRC strategic plan.
Following the release of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research in 2007, the NCM
has watched the mechanisms to ensure consistent national compliance and made a submission to the
consultation on an Australian Research Integrity Committee in December 2009.
Muses-C (task force of the National Committee for Space Science)
Chair: Professor Trevor Ireland
The Hayabusa Mission (Muses-C), operated by the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, is nearing its culmination
with return scheduled for June 2010. A capsule containing samples of the asteroid Itokawa is to land
near Woomera and then be transferred to Japan for preliminary examination. At this stage the mission is
proceeding well and is on schedule. A problem in neutralising the ion propulsion system has been rectified
and the spacecraft will maintain the current return cruise schedule back to Earth. A successful landing
will hopefully see the analysis of the first in situ samples taken from an asteroid. This information is vital in
determining the sources of meteorites that continually bombard Earth.
Nuclear matters and Australian Research Reactor (task force of the
National Committee for Crystallography)
Chair: Professor John White FAA
The task force met on 20 August to consider reports from the chair and members, and an update on the
performance of the OPAL reactor. The meeting with Dr Adi Paterson, CEO of ANSTO, was very fruitful and
open, and the exchange of ideas and information valuable. His subsequent public lecture at the Australian
National University was stimulating and interactive, all in a very good spirit. The present and future operations
at ANSTO and matters of potential national interest related to the task force's remit were discussed.
Progress was described on the National Academies Forum’s ARC-funded Learned Academies Special Project
Understanding the Formation of Attitudes to Nuclear Power in Australia and material on the opening of the
Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex facility in Japan presented.
Nutrition
Chair: Professor Jennie Brand-Miller
The National Committee for Nutrition (NCN) held a successful symposium, Salt in the Diet (Why Health
Professionals Need a Shake-up), under the auspices of the Academy, the George Institute for International
Health and the Sydney group of the Nutrition Society of Australia on 13 August at the George Institute in
Sydney. Professor Caryl Nowson was the chair of the scientific program committee.
A media release was issued and some of the speakers were interviewed. The committee subsequently
engaged in useful correspondence with Food Standards Australia New Zealand regarding apparent underestimation
of salt intake by the average Australian, and a paper has been prepared for submission to the
Medical Journal of Australia.
An NHMRC public statement on iodine supplementation in pregnant and breast-feeding women was released in
December 2009. The NCN viewed this as a successful outcome to its focus on the iodine deficiency issue in 2008.
The committee has begun planning a major meeting, Food, Health and Sustainable Agriculture, to determine
the research needs to set dietary guidelines that are commensurate with a sustainable agricultural system. A
closed meeting of about 40 people is envisioned, including eminent international speakers, as a satellite of
the Nutrition Society of Australia annual scientific meeting in December 2010. The University of Adelaide has
indicated that it will contribute $50,000 to this meeting and Professor Robert Gibson from the University of
Adelaide School of Agriculture, Food and Wine was an observer at three of this year’s committee meetings.
NATIONAL COMMITTEES FOR SCIENCE
ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2009–MARCH 2010 41