How to prevent another scientific great leap forward

Peter Ridd, the Australian physics professor whistleblower fired from James Cook University, believes we need an Office of Science Review to do quality assurance on science the government relies on to make decisions.

The pandemic also suffered from poor data quality. Standardising what dying of COVID, and any other disease means and having common open data standards should make keeping track of the next crisis easier and more timely.

Lastly, we need to encourage viewpoint diversity in society.

At the moment, we are running in the opposite direction with proposals to standardise pandemic policy through the WHO and the Australian government moving towards increased censorship through its “Misinformation and disinformation” Bill and breaking the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient via the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act.

If society is determined to ask for “speed” from science, then we need to consider how it can be done faster and with more efficiency and accuracy. We also need to ensure that governments adopt the correct scientific facts.